Last week Saturday, was FINALLY the day I had been waiting for… the day that I got to see my beautiful sister, Jackie!!! I was SOOOO excited to see her I could hardly wait! My flight out of Nice was to take off at 6:20am… YIKES, so early!!! I had a cab arranged to pick me up from my apartment as there is no public transportation until about 6:20 in the morning…. Which clearly wouldn’t be working for me! So the cab was to arrive around 4:30am for a 30 minute car ride to Nice airport. I went to bed a little later than expected, because I couldn’t fall asleep, so 1:00am was when I was finally about to fall asleep! When I woke up next, it was 3:58am… WHOOPS!!! I jumped out of bed and into the shower! As I quickly got ready, I flipped open my computer to see the time, and to shut it down to take with me, and it read 2:22am… WHAT!!! How could this be… I swear my phone read 3:58am, but somehow I had accidently read the time wrong, and jumped in the shower at 1:58am… GREAT!!! Now I was wide awake, and my hair was still dripping wet… basically impossible conditions to fall back asleep in, so I got myself completely ready to go, packing all my last minute necessities, and getting myself all ready, except for getting dressed. So for the next twoish hours or so, I watched one of my favorite movies of all time, Miracle!!! I didn’t get to finish it, but I have seen it many times, and know the ending, lucky for me!!! Finally it was time to get dressed, get my bags, and head downstairs to get my car to the airport. When I arrived at the airport, I checked my bag, went through security, and waited for boarding… just the standard airport happenings! I boarded my flight to Paris, and it was GREAT… THREE WHOLE SEATS to myself!!! YESSSSSS!!! I passed out completely before the plane even left the ground! Before I knew it, we were circling Paris, and landing in about 10 minutes!!! When I landed, I got to my next gate to board my flight to Florence, finally!!! I had two hours to waste before I was to depart, and spent it working on projects, and presentations that were due when the family left. I finished everything in perfect timing to board my flight to Florence, where I would be meeting Nick and Mom, and of course, Jackie!
The flight to Florence was very pleasant, as almost everyone was American, which was very odd, but also refreshing for I miss the native tongue of American English. I sat next to a very nice man who was heading to Florence to visit his daughter, along with his wife and son! I guess the Scotts aren’t the only ones who thought Thanksgiving break was a good time to head to Europe! Finally when I got to Florence, I had to wait an hour and a half for Jackie’s flight to arrive, and then head to the Hotel to meet mom and Nick! I sat on the cold floor, touching up my projects, before getting kicked out! They made me go to the common area rather than sitting by the luggage belts. So I went out and saw Nick! I was not expecting to see him, as they were supposed to be at the hotel already! It turned out that their car transfer to the hotel, went to Pisa instead! So they decided to wait for us, so that we could maybe take one car to the hotel. Mom was of course, freaking out because I didn’t come out of the luggage belt area for about 30 minutes after my flight landed, and she didn’t know where I was. She’s a worry-wart! So the three of us waited for Jackie’s flight to land. Around 2pm, she finallllyyyy came through the doors!!! I was SOOOOO excited to see her!!! After a few minutes of hugging, we found our car transfer, and the guy was able to get all four of us, and our luggage into his car, which was great!
We arrived at the hotel, got checked in, and put our bags in our rooms. We were all quite hungry, so we headed to go get lunch, and to explore the area in which we were staying. We went to this place called ZaZa’s, which has really wonderful food! Yummy! After lunch, we started walking around, finding that it was quite chilly in Florence! DANG!!! We found a bunch of little shops, and even a few cute markets with decent priced items! We saw a big green and white marble church, which was very pretty, as well as some other cute sites! It was very interesting to see how different France and Italy are! Florence is a very beautiful city, and the artsy feel is very welcoming! We walked around for quite some time, before all getting quite chilled, and deciding to head back to the hotel to get some good sleep. We played a few games before we headed to bed to prepare for a busy day of site-seeing in the morning. Sunday morning, we woke up early to get breakfast, and get ready to catch our bus that allowed us to see the entire city of Florence. We searched for a little bit before finally finding the bus stop, where the “hop-on hop-off” bus was. We decided to ride the bus through it’s entire route, so we could see all the sites, and then get off at the ones that we wanted to see or were worth seeing. Nick and I sat on the top level of the bus, and in the front so we could see everything!!! It was AWESOME… I was freezing my butt off, but it was worth it! Halfway through the tour, we got stuck in a traffic jam, because there was a car accident at the intersection, and nobody could go through. So we got off the bus, and figured out a way to catch a different bus to tour the city… and caught it just in time! We got on this bus, which took us on a different route than the one before, but we didn’t mind. We went up into the mountains a bit to a small village, where we got off for some lunch. We were able to see the entire city of Florence from here, which was absolutely glorious! After our lunch, we headed back down the mountain to catch the bus we were originally on, and see the rest of the sites that we had missed!
Throughout the day, we got off the bus, seeing all kinds of beautiful sites, and loving the gorgeous city! We took the last bus back to our stop by our hotel, and went to the rooms to chillout before heading out for dinner! We talked and reminisced the past, laughing and chatting… which continued throughout dinner. After dinner, we were all quite exhausted, and knew we had an early flight to get in the morning to head to Paris for a few days. We woke up in the morning, very early, so we could be at the airport on time for our early flight. When we checked in, we found that everyone in our family was granted first class… except me. We aren’t sure how that happened, but everyone got to enjoy the great space and food of first class. I didn’t mind too much however, I sat in the very back of the plane, where they put all the children, because it’s close to the bathroom, and I sat next to a guy that took up his whole seat, plus half of mine, so I curled up in the corner and passed out, again! The flight was actually quite pleasant, even without the amenities of first class… I didn’t mind too much!
We finally landed in the beautiful city of lights, and got our car transfer to our hotel. Our hotel was in the Latin Quarter, which is the younger district of Paris, where there are many fun bars and clubs about. Once at the hotel, all checked in and settled, we immediately set out to see some of the awesome sites that Paris has to offer. I had been to Paris just a few weeks earlier, so I knew they metro system very well, which helped save us a chunk of money on not paying for taxis everywhere. So we got some lunch near the hotel, and took the metro to the Louvre. When we got there, we found that the Louvre is MASSIVE!!! Holy cow!!! We searched about, finding the Mona Lisa, and other famous paintings and sculptures, which was awesome to see. But just so everyone knows, the Mona Lisa is small, behind a lot of glass, and roped off, as well as surrounded by hundreds of people ALL THE TIME!!! You have seen better pictures online or in movies… one of the only things that I have found isn’t more amazing in person than you imagined. After we explored more of the Louvre, we walked the Champs Elysee, the most famous street in Paris. We walked out of the Louvre and walked all the way to the Arc de Triomph, which is at the end of the Champs Elysees. As we walked away from the Louvre, we found a little Christmas village type thing along the street. It was amazing… beautiful lights, lots of Christmas Trees, Christmas decorations everywhere, and of course, shops with lots of different types of things to buy. As we wander through the village, we found tons of awesome things, satisfying mothers obsession with Christmas. After the village, we proceeded to walk the Champs Elysees, rummaging through different shops, and eating dinner.
After a long day of traveling, sight-seeing and walking, we were all quite tired… so I navigated us back to the hotel. Of course, many of you know, I have an innate sense of direction, which has aided me in being able to navigate myself anywhere and everywhere (thanks Dad!!!), so I used my eagle eyes to navigate us around the city, through the metro, and walking us to all of our destinations. Once we arrived back at the hotel, we all basically fell asleep, knowing we would have another day of sight-seeing and exploring early in the morning. When morning arrived, we woke up to eat breakfast, and go catch our sight-seeing bus that took us to all the major tourist destinations around the city. We headed to Notre Dame first, which was where we were to catch the bus. We of course, walked through the magnificent cathedral, wondering if we would see Quasimodo in the tower! After exploring the old and historical church, we found our bus and hopped on. As we waited for the rest of the people to get on, we mapped out the best way to get the most out of our hop-on/hop-off tour. Our next destination was the Eiffel Tower. Of course, we sat on top of the double decker tour bus, and in the front, with the best view. We saw SOO many awesome things (even things I hadn’t seen when I was there). We enjoyed the all the beautiful buildings, and the explanations of all the history that is behind the buildings, gardens, bridges etc. Once at the Eiffel Tower, we decided that we only wanted to take pictures, and we would go up it at night! We did a half hour photo shoot/admiring session before proceeding on with our tour.
Next, we decided to get some lunch. So we headed back to Notre Dame, to eat at a restaurant called Quasimodo. If any of you aren’t Disney fanatics like us, Quasi was the hunchback of Notre Dame in a Disney movie that we used to watch as kids. He lived in the tower of the cathedral ringing the bell, but wanted to see the rest of the world… I don’t remember the rest of the story really, but it was a cute movie. After our lunch, we did some rummaging through the touristy stores that were about the area, before getting back on the bus to go to the Opera. Here, we saw many shops and beautiful buildings, and enjoyed a hot cup of hot chocolate at Starbucks. By this time, in France, it is dark. We once again got back on the bus, and headed to the Champs Elysee to go back to the Christmas village. We loved it SO much, we had to go through it again… it really is the cutest thing, with such cute knick-knacks to buy… and yummy Christmas food and drink as well.
After going through the village, we walked back to the Arc de Triomph, which was where the bus would pick us up. We once again, got the front of the bus, and on the top, so we could see EVERYTHING… and let me tell you… the round-about around the Arc is complete chaos. I have never seen a more idiot traffic jam in my life. The Arc’s round-about (that is, the Arc is in the middle of a wide round-about), where TWELVE streets enter and exit. Oh… and, there are NO established lanes for traffic, so everyone is absolutely EVERYWHERE… it is the most chaotic thing I have ever witnessed. After getting through that mess, we finally were headed back to the Eiffel Tower, to head up to the tippy-top. We actually didn’t stand in line all that long. Normally, the line is insane, but it wasn’t too bad (surprisingly). After the semi-short wait, we headed up in the elevator. It makes you change elevators at the 2nd floor (for those who can not go to the top), and get on a smaller elevator to head to the 3rd floor. We got in the 3rd floor elevator, and started out ascend to the top. If you looked up, the ceiling had windows, which was really neat. The travel up was awesome… I am not afraid of heights, and I was even like WOW… this is high!!! It was AWESOME!!! Once at the top, we observed the gorgeous city, taking pictures, and admiring the sight of such a beautiful place.
After some time, we headed back down to the 2nd floor, where Nick and I opted to take the stairs to the 1st floor, where we would meet Mom and Jackie. Walking down the stairs was reallllllyyyyyyy awesome. It was grated stairs, so it was such a thrill walking down… I loved it!!! Nick and I screwed around taking funny pictures on the stairs most of the way down, and of course, beat Mom and Jackie down, because they had to stand in line for the elevator. We were going get a glass of wine at the restaurant on the 1st floor, but they didn’t allow that, so we decided to head somewhere for dinner instead. I took them across the bridge, and up some stairs for a better view of the tower… before heading to a cute restaurant near where I had just taken the family. This was the best food I have had thus far, as well as the best service. It was GREAT! Our waiter was so sweet, and the food… fabulous! After dinner, we were all exhausted, so I once again navigated us back home. We had an early flight to catch, again, back to Nice, where we stayed in Monaco.
The flight back was fine, we were delayed for a bit, but nothing major. Once in Nice, we took a car to Monaco, where we stayed for the night. Once we arrived, we checked-in to our hotel and got ready to go out to see the small country. We took the free shuttle ride to the famous, Monte-Carlo casino. We wandered around the area, finding the Formula-1 race track, seeing the beautiful Mediterranean waters, and of course, the casino. We didn’t go inside however, because it costs 10 euro to enter, which is quite expensive, if you don’t plan on gambling. We sat down at the Café de Paris, and had a small lunch, while enjoying some French wine. We took our time sipping our delicious wine, before going to do more exploring. We found the shopping mall, which I had been in before… the nicest mall EVER… so pretty!!! We wandered through, looking through some of the shops, but everything was very very expensive. Our next destination in Monaco was… well, we just wandered around… again!!! We found the place that we wanted to eat at, but it didn’t open til 7:30pm, so we walked the streets looking for a place to get drinks. Finally, we found a cute little restaurant that was open. We walked in and found ourselves a table. When the guy came to ask us what we wanted to drink, he spoke perfect English, so I asked him if he had brandy… he looked at me funny and said “I knew a girl named Brandy!?!”… and instantly, I knew, he was no bartender! Mom asked him for a martini, and he didn’t know that either… he apologized, because his bartender was not here yet… so of course, we told him that I was, so he suggested for me to come bartend for him. I thought he was kidding, but he was NOT!!! I went behind the bar, and found where all my necessities were, and made us our drinks. It was really weird to bartend somewhere else, I am just so used to being organized at Maple View! Even though that was really cool to do, I prefer bartending at Maple View!!! We had our drinks, and enjoyed talking while we got to know the guy, who turned out to be the owner of the restaurant. He is twenty… it was pretty cool, but he should probably learn to bartend!!! After our drinks, we headed to the restaurant that we were suggested to eat at. This restaurant was so cute, many many different colors, and SUCH great food!!! Afterwards, we were all exhausted, none of us had slept a whole lot with getting up early everyday… so we headed back to the hotel, where we relaxed and sat on the balcony. When morning hit, we didn’t get up early… that’s the first time I have said that this whole time!!!
We got some good rest, before packing our suite cases, once again, to travel to Antibes. I took the family on the train, so they could see how beautiful it is to ride along the coast on the train. Finally, we arrived in Antibes, and I took them to the hotel before going to lunch. We ate lunch in the hotel restaurant, which was pretty good. It came with a fabulous view!!! We ate a little quick, because I had to go to class at 3ish! So while I went to class, we figured out what to do for Thanksgiving. It was SOOO weird not being at Grandma and Pop-pop’s (Scott) for Thanksgiving like we have for as long as I can remember. All my friends in Antibes decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner together at a friends place, which Nick and I went to after we all went to dinner together at a restaurant near my house. This restaurant I had been to before with Marlena when she came to see me for a few days in Nice. I really enjoyed the food, as well as the owner. The owner does all these funny tricks, makes fun of you, messes around with you… just very fun!!! We had a very fun and delicious dinner, even though we didn’t have turkey! Afterwards, Nick and I went to my friends’ for the Thanksgiving celebration, where he was able to meet all of my friends! It was really a great time!!! Nick and I headed in early because we knew we would once again be getting up early to go to Ventimelia, Italy in the morning.
We once again were up early, and heading to Italy for the big market they have on Fridays. We took the train for about an hour and a half to Italy, all along the coast… it is a very beautiful ride! When we arrived, we got hot chocolate to warm up, as it was a chilly morning. The hot chocolate we got, was actually hot pudding… very weird, but delicious! After our warm up, it was a bit warmer outside, so we walked the market, finding tons of scarves, and knick-knacky stuff! I love this market, it is rescannable, and has everything you can think of!!! After a few hours of rummaging through the market, we went to get some lunch! We ate at a little pizzeria, which was very good. Afterwards, I took the family the opposite direct, to Cannes (g20 was held here in early November). It’s about 15 minutes from where I live, so we were on the train for about 2 hours, before finally reaching Cannes. We walked around the stores in Cannes, finding a shop that sold cheap French Riviera shirts and souvenirs, so we got some cool things from there, before we decided to head back to Antibes again and chill out before heading to dinner. For dinner, we ate Italian again, and it was very good food. I really enjoyed the place we went to… very good food! We then headed back to the hotel to hit the hay.
We were to wake up at a decent time to go to my apartment to pack some of my stuff to put in Jackie’s suitcase to go home with her. We packed some of my things in her suitcase, and headed to Nice. We got a hotel in Nice for the night because Jackie’s flight was very early in the morning, so we got a hotel near the airport. We also wanted to walk around Nice, and see some of the sights in Nice. We walked around Nice, finding many different things, as I took them down the main strip of shops, and showed them some of the prettier sights Nice offers, before finding a gelato place to get some yummy ice cream. We then walked around a little more, before finding a place for dinner. After dinner, we once again went back to the hotel to hit the hay… we have been running around everyday!!! EARLY EARLY Sunday morning, we took Jackie to the airport to fly her back to the States. We said our goodbyes, and I sent her off, only to see her in just a few short weeks. Mom and I went back to the hotel to get a little more sleep, before getting up to catch a train back to Antibes.
On this day… we were all pretty exhausted, so we decided to lay-low in the hotel room. We ate dinner out at a restaurant we had already tried, and I bought them some groceries, as I had class all day Monday and didn’t want them to starve!!! Nick and I stayed up pretty late watching movies in German and waiting to hear back from the lone-ranger that had headed home earlier that day. (Jackie broke my phone by dropping down two stories in the Lourve, so I didn’t have a phone for a while and she couldn’t contact me other than computer) After we heard from Jackie, we fell asleep. In the morning, I had lots to do before class. I left mom and Nick for my classes all day, and from what I know, they did another relaxing day at the hotel. They had pizza at Nick’s new favorite pizza place, and sat on the patio near the Mediterranean. When I got home from class, Mom made dinner for me and all my friends for my birthday. My three roommates McKenzie, Kallie, and Kim all came, as well as my friends Eliza and Gianna! McKenzie and Mom made me a birthday cake, and Nick lit my awesome flower sparkler candle… the best candle I have ever seen! It even sang!!! After dinner, everyone left and we once again, watched movies in German before falling asleep.
On Tuesday, we woke up and headed to my apartment once again, to try to fill up Mom and Nick’s suitcases with some of my stuff. We ended up getting a TON of my stuff in them and now I have hardly any clothes, but it was great because now I should be able to come home in ONE suitcase!!! After repacking for a long time, we headed to Nice to stay over night once again, so Mom and Nick could be at the airport early. We walked along the beach in Nice finding lots of cool rocks and watching the sunset, before going to dinner at our hotel. We made it a decently early night, but I stayed up a little later and watched Spongebob in German… I just love that language!!! We woke up early in the morning to get them to the airport for their flight to Paris. I left them around 6:30am to get a train back to my apartment, feeling a little sick, but didn’t say anything to Mom for she would worry. It turned out to get really really bad, ending in me calling the doctor, with his instruction to go to the hospital. So while Mom and Nick missed their flight from Paris to Cincinnati, because the French airline workers were striking (imagine that… the French strike about EVERYTHINGGGGGG… super annoying!!!!!!!!)… so they had to find a new connecting flight, and whatnot… I am in the hospital. Luckily … soooo thankful for this… my CEA advisor (my study abroad program I went through was called CEA and my advisor sets up all of our apartments and courses and whatnot) came with me to the hospital to speak French for me/comfort me. She is SUCH a sweetheart… saved my butt because nobody at the hospital spoke English. She stayed with me the whole time. At the hospital they took blood cultures, which was a freaking horrible experience. The nurse shoved the needle in my arm and couldn’t get any blood, so she did my other arm, still nothing and after a few tries, FINALLY got someone else to come do it!!! Oh, but not before she left both my arms completely bruised!!! The next girl got the needle in, and gave me an IV of liquids and pain meds! I then went into x-rays, and luckily, they found that scar tissue was causing a minor obstruction in my intestinal tract… YAY!!! Nothing serious… they discharged me with a list of FIVE medications to get from the Pharmacy (I bought them, but didn’t open any of the boxes… I don’t believe in medicine really!). After 7 hours in the hospital, I went home and rested!!! Mom and Nick got their flights just fine after their episode in Paris… and I am now healthy as ever!!!
It was absolutely FABULOUS having Mom, Nick and Jackie here as I was really starting to miss home after so long. I was soooo sooo thankful all of them were able to come!!! I still really miss home and can’t wait to finally be back in the States. As much as I love it here, I really miss home like crazy… seeing all the Christmas lights and stuff is beautiful but that is what is making me miss home the most. Christmas is always spent with family, so I always think of home everytime I see the lights… which is everyday. Not only that… but I’m ready to speak my own language again! I have gotten very good with French… understanding A LOT more than I can speak… but I am ready to hear English… American English no less… it’s just a lovely sound! I am also ready for snow! I can’t wait to see the white pine trees and the beautiful white forest! There just really is, no place like home! I plan on spending the next few weeks, enjoying my last days with friends and adventure… but I will be ready for home soon!!!
Love to everyone back home… I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving!!! And love to the Surges family for their loss, as well as the Hughes family… and Grandama Scott as well!!! LOVE YOU ALL… Wish everyone a strong and healthy heart through the tough times!!!
BIG BIG BIG thank you to my mother… gee wiz do I love her!!! She is amazing… I am soooo thankful for her!!! She brought herself to me… as well as my awesome big brother and my amazing sister as well… I don’t know if I would have made it this whole time if I didn’t get to see them!!! Thank you SOOO much Mom!!!! You are truly the besttttt mother!!! And thank you to Jackie and Nick for coming too… it was amazing having you guys!!!
I will be blogging about my London trip soon, so stay tuned!!!
LOVE to my family and friends!!! And Happy Birthday Dad… LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
The four of us in Monaco!
Nick can carry me and Jackie on his back!!! Scott Family Fun!
Nick, Kallie, Me, McKenzie, Gianna, Kim and Eliza... celebrating my birthday!
Nick and I... walking the beach of Nice!
Nick and I on the beach... en francais, la plage!
Having lunch in Florence!!! Loving the italian food!
Disney stores everywhere... we went in every single one that we saw!
Mom, Me and Nick... on our tour bus in Florence!
The city of Florence behind us!
Florence is a beautiful city!
Florence, Italy!
Us three kids at the Louvre!
Us three in the Christmas village on the Champs Elysees
Sunset and the Eiffel Tower!!!
Mom and Jackie in front of the great tower!
Mom and I
Nick and Mom
Another sunset picture!
Arc de Triumph
The four of us in front of Notre Dame!
The four of us in front of France's most popular tourist attraction!
Nick showing off again... holding both Jackie and I in the air!
The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower!
Atop the Eiffel!
Another photo of the view!
Nick and I's adventure down the stairs...Nick hanging on the Eiffel Tower!
The swinkling tower!
