Europe 2010

Trevor and I both graduated last August and for our graduation present from my parents they gave us a trip to a destination of our choice. It took us months to decided on places...Thailand, Brazil, Bora Bora. All seemed to fall through and we decided to go to Europe. Trevor had never been and I am absolutely in love with the culture, food, and landscape there. We booked our tickets and were very excited! Then 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave the volcano erupted in Iceland and threatened our plans- flights were canceled for five days. We finally got out and were 8 short hours away from London. We got to London and first thing we did was eat and then hop onto a double decker tour bus to see all of the sights! It was such a great way to see all of them and we loved it. The texas embassy photo is of the building where the tickets were sold for the Titanic. I absolutely loved London and would love to live there. It doesnt have a reputation for good food but we lucked out and got some great food. We wandered the city and saw all that we could in such a short period of time. I fell in love with Harrods and my mom and I wandered around the food rooms and the entire Kensington area, it was a blast.

We spent three days in London and then took the Chunnel to Paris which was fun to see the country side of England and France. We got to Paris and I was excited to speak French. We stayed in an apartment and it was great to have room to relax. It was really cold while we were there, much colder than forecasted so I spent ten days in my north face jacket and beanie. Paris is such a massive city with huge buildings. It was so much fun to see all of the architecture and eat all of the food. There were some days I consumed 100% carbs. My dad claimed on day 9 that bread and cheese was seaping out of his pores. We rented Vespas one day and went all over the city, it was so amazing to see ALL of the city.

We then rented a car and drove down to Switzerland. I couldn't wrap my mind around how green and plush everywhere in Europe was, it never ended. We drove through lots of small towns and finally got to Switzerland. We stopped in Bern but stayed in Interlaken and hiked and played for 2 days. It was gorgeous. We took a gondola up to a little town called Gimmelwald where no cars are aloud and its a population of 30. Its the adventure capital of switzerland. My dad and I did a canyon swing which is a 180 foot drop before a rope catches you and you swing between 2 canyon walls, what an experience. We spent the last night in Geneva, the watch capital of the world. The volcano erupted again and canceled our flight, bummer :) My mom and I hoped we would be stuck all week and we could take the train somewhere but my dad and Trevor had to get back to work so my brother called and got us on a flight through frankfurt that was 2 hours longer because they went about greenland, we then missed our connection in chicago, and finally got home. 24 hours of travel. We felt like train wrecks! But it was all worth it. It was an amazing trip and I already miss it. We are so grateful to my parents, thanks, we love you!!