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Europe Trip 2017
  • celiajohnston

Europe Trip 2017

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 51: Munich, Germany

    10. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today we decided to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp with a tour from our hostel. The first established concentration camp where 43,000 people lost their lives. It was not an easy morning. Watching it in a movie or reading it in a book truly doesn't get you to understand fully the horror and injustice of the camps. I can't even begin to describe it, but it made me feel so uneasy and overwhelmed with anger and sadness. I also didn't feel comfortable taking a lot of pictures.

    After the tour, I grabbed lunch with a few of the people we met and the food was really good. We were all meeting up later in the hostel bar for trivia night, but there turned out to be none, so we just hung out for a few hours. Radler's are really good beers for anyone who visits Germany!

    We then went to get a late snack and turns out Munich is quite sketch at night. It turns out one of my roommates is slightly sketch too. When I went to shower later, turns out someone stole my used bar of soap! I had left it to dry near the window and the soap and case completely disappeared. My used bar of soap certainly wasn't something that I thought I had to lock up, but I guess when you need soap, you need it. Thank god the hostel had mini body washes for a euro as everything was closed.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 52: Munich, Germany

    11. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Today we had signed up for an 11 hour Mike's Bike Tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle (aka Sleeping Beauty Castle) with our friends we met in Switzerland.

    It turned out to be a really fun day even though it poured. We still went for a bike ride and couldn't see much as it was so cloudy, but then we all went to a really good restaurant where we had Bavarian Mac and Cheese and some kind of delicious dessert.

    The Castle turned out to be really cool too. They spent 17 years building it and when the King died, they immediately stopped building it and it opened to the public within weeks. It's honestly gorgeous and our tour guides were really good. Zoe didn't think she needed her poncho for the second half of the tour so when it started pouring, she ended up jumping in mine (with me) and using my sleeve as a hood.

    Also, a fun fact is that we drove on the Autobahn! I was expecting cars to be driving so fast that I couldn't see them, but it really wasn't that intense. On the way there there was a little traffic, but on the way home, cars were certainly flying right past the bus.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 53: Munich, Germany

    12. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We weren't really sure what to expect from Munich, but it turned out to be a good decision to go there. We learned a lot and met some pretty great people.

    Today we hung around the whole day with two girls from Northern Ireland. I was confused for a good part of the day because I didn't realize they were both named Emma.

    We starting with joining the walking tour organized by our hostel. Our guide was actually really good and the history of Munich is really interesting. We went to the Viktualienmarkt, the largest market in Germany and I had a pickle. Was pretty tasty. Then we headed to the Marienplatz where we saw the Rathaus-Glockenspiel that chimes at noon and re-enacts two stories from the history of Munich. Also made our way to the Odeonplatz, Hofbräuhaus (popular beer hall), Peterskirche (church) and Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) that apparently has the Devil's footprint.

    There is a story where the devil made a deal with an architect of the church because he ran out of money. Apparently, the devil said he could have the church finished with no cost to the architect, as long as their were no windows and the church would be dark. At the end, there were many windows and the devil wasn't happy so he stomped his foot and left a footprint on the floor in the church. Some other interesting things we learned on the walking tour:

    (1) On the building where all the royals lived, they started with brick on the front and it was really nice, but by the time they got to the side of the building, they ran out of money so they decided to paint the rest to make it look like brick.

    (2) One of their buildings (Opera House) caught fire so since they had an abundance of beer, they decided to try and put it out that way, but turned out beer was flammable and they got so thirsty from the heat that the beer hardly made it there anyways.

    (3) The Nazis took power in Munich and every resident couldn't walk down the street where 16 of them were killed during battle without paying their respects and doing to Nazi salute. They would be sent to the camps if they didn't pay their respects or took the street parallel to avoid it.

    After the tour, we went to the English Gardens and found our way to the famous Chinese Beer Garden. It was pretty neat and we ate lunch. We had red bratwurst sausages (so good), schnitzel and potato wedges with a really good sour cream dip.

    Before we went to the Hofbräuhaus, we went to the BMW Welt museum which was really cool. We got to see Elvis' car and the history of BMW. We then went to the Olympic park and stadium that was established for the 1972 Olympic Games. The park was really nice and we enjoyed the view from the peak.

    The Hofbräuhaus is like no other. It's PACKED with people and you have to sit with whoever you can to get a seat. The smallest beers they have is a litre. People are dancing, singing, chanting, eating and of course drinking. It's something you have to see for yourself.

    Of course, we needed to eat after so we all stopped at Pizza Hut and had a late snack (or dinner) before heading back the hostel. We worked hard on trying to convince the girls to come to Montreal, so hopefully they will visit.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 54: Travel Day to Prague

    13. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    This morning we woke up to the smell of puke so we had the pleasure of packing our bags in the hallway. It wasn't too bad though because we had light and it was a lot cooler than in the room. We then caught our 8:48 train to Prague, Czech Republic.

    Made our way for some pasta and then headed to our hostel to swim and relax in the sauna for a bit. Our hostel is one of the nicer ones we've had. We paid $50 for four nights to stay here, which is insanely cheap.

    After our showers, we went for supper and now we're in bed by 10:30 pm. We are really nice and cozy and pooped out considering we didn't sleep much the night before.

    **Since I've got no pictures for today, I'm going to add more from yesterday since I had a lot!    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 55: Prague, Czech Republic

    14. august 2017, Tsjekkisk Republikk ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    My summer cold has developed so we took it "easy" today. Turns out we ended up walking 20 km (without realizing) and walked all the way to the castle to find out it closed in half an hour by the time we got there and it takes 3-4 hours to see it all. Good thing is we have another two full days so we will definitely go back.

    Prague is beautiful though (and insanely crowded) and we got to see the Astronomical Clock in action in the Old Town Square. There's a lot of musicians that are really good in the square too! We also saw the Jewish Quarter and St. Charles bridge which were super cool. We had three really great, cheap meals too. We went to a piercing parlour so Zoë could get an ear piercing that apparently helps reduce migraines to find out it doesn't actually help, but it was a really interesting place to see.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 56: Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

    15. august 2017, Tsjekkisk Republikk ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today we travelled to Kutná Hora (about an hour from Prague) to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, St. Barbara's Cathedral and the Church of the Assumption of our Lady. They were all pretty neat and very old.

    The ossuary is the final resting place to 65,000 people and they arranged the bones artistically to make decorations or furnishings. When you walk around the cemetery outside, you also see people buried from 2015 so it's pretty recent even though the church has been there since the 12th century and the cemetery is rather small.

    We also walked around the town a bit which was nice and reminded me of Old Montreal with all the cobblestone. We walked a good amount today too as we couldn't figure out the bus schedule and since it's such a small town, no one we spoke to really understood English.

    By the end of the night, we went back to the same restaurant for the third time in a row so I'm sure they will know us by name soon enough.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 57: Prague, Czech Republic

    16. august 2017, Tsjekkisk Republikk ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Today we did two walking tours. One of the city of Prague itself and one of the Prague Castle. They were both pretty cool and interesting. We got poured on for a good part of the day, but we learnt a lot and met some cool people, including a fellow Canadian!

    We walked around and saw the Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square, Mozart Theatre, Old Jewish District, Old New Synagogue, Old Jewish Cemetery, Powder Tower, and more. It was a really interesting tour. We also found Chris' doppelgänger (it was hilarious). After the first tour, about ten of us went to a local restaurant and had some authentic Czech food. I had Beef Goulash with dumplings and a potato latke and it was actually really good.

    On the castle tour, we saw a lot of cool things too: the Loreto, Černín Palace, Hradčany square, Masaryk statue, Schwarzenberg Palace, Matías Gate, St. Vitus Cathedral, Malá Strana (The Lesser Quarter), Hradčany (The Castle District), St. Nicholas Church, St. George’s Basilica, Royal Courtyards, The Black Tower, John Lennon Wall, and Charles Bridge.

    The John Lennon wall was created after his assassination so he never actually went to it and we saw how high the water got from the last flood in 2002. We also saw the non-smiling, no matter what guards by the castle and had amazing views of Prague.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 58: Travel Day to Berlin

    17. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Today we travelled from Prague to Berlin. I forgot that I got rid of all my Czech korunas so I had to kindly request (a.k.a beg) the train restaurant guy to exchange a euro for a little bit of change so I could keep some of the currency because I'm cheesy like that.

    After our train, we made our way to our hostel and met our roommate who is actually really nice and we went to all you can eat sushi together. Angie lives in San Francisco and worked for Google and now Uber so you can imagine that Zoe and I asked her 200 questions.

    By the end of the night, I had to find good WiFi as I thought it would be a good idea to start job hunting in Europe, so I had an interview. Thankfully I found good WiFi as the hostel WiFi was really choppy. I had to buy a tea though, which turned out to be pretty good so it was a nice little WiFi chasing night in the middle of Berlin.

    I don't have many pictures as it was a travel day, but I did include the 6 pictures that I happened to take for the purpose of making an effort to have some to include.

    - Phill's Corner was where we ate a total of four times, but I wish it could have been 100.
    - The hostel is that in Berlin which is really nice.
    - Took a picture of our table to show how we've become Bag Ladies.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 59: Berlin, Germany

    18. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Today we took a bike tour around Berlin and saw so much. We saw the Brandenberg gate, TV Tower, Alexanderplatz, Berlin Wall, Reichstag, The Berliner Cathedral, Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, Checkpoint Charlie, Victory Column, Topography of Terror and the place of Hitler’s Final Bunker.

    There's so much history in Berlin that it was hard to take it all in at once, but we will be revisiting some of the sites that we really want to see more of as we were limited with the tour.

    We also planned to go out tonight to check out the nightlife, but it's supposed to thunder and lighting all night (which it already is) so we opted for tomorrow instead. Vietnamese food and Netflix sound good.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 60: Berlin, Germany

    19. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Today we slept in and went to brunch with our roomie. I've never had such good breakfast at a restaurant before that wasn't a chocolate banana crepe. I had French toast with blueberry mascarpone, white chocolate, apples and raspberry coulis. If only I could eat it everyday.

    Zoe and I adventured today to see more around Berlin and spent more time at the Typography of Terrors, Checkpoint Charlie, Bradenberg Gate and the Victory Tower. We also went to the East Side Gallery for the first time and it was really cool. The longest part of the Berlin Wall still standing (1.3km worth) that is full of art and then we made our way back to the same Vietnamese place as the night before.

    When we got back, we showered and planned to take naps so that we could check out the nightlife. Apparently it only STARTS at 2 a.m. so we planned to head out around midnight, but slept through it and when we woke up at 1:45 am, we were too tired so we went back to bed. That's what you call a bunch of party animals.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 61: Berlin, Germany

    20. august 2017, Tyskland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today we woke up and went for French Toast (what a surprise). I'm going to try and recreate it when I get home so we shall see how that goes.

    After we ate, we caught up with our roommate, Angie, and we headed to the Flea Market (Flohmarkt) at Mauerpark. It was so big that it took us more than three hours to walk the whole thing. We found a lot of cool things. I wish I would have taken pictures. We then took a break at a cafe and headed to the DDR Museum. It's an interactive history museum which was cool and then Zoë and I tried to recreate some statues.

    During the day (thanks to Instagram) we also touched base with a girl we met from Munich so she met us for supper and we went to the Rose Garden after where we met our friend, Edward (the dog). His name is German and I couldn't remember it, so Edward it was (no relation to my Uncle).    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 62: Travel day to Amsterdam

    21. august 2017, Nederland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    No French Toast this morning. It was a sad morning.

    We took the tram to catch our 10:30 am train to Amsterdam and arrived at 7 pm as our train was delayed two hours. It was a good train ride though and we met a nice girl from New York City who studied in Berlin for two months. She joined us for supper when we got to Amsterdam.

    After we checked into our hostel, we took a walk by the canal and it's honestly gorgeous at night and the houses/architectural style are really nice too. The canal is also lit up and we've seen a least 500 bikes since the 4 hours we've been here. We also tried to get into the Anne Frank house, but we missed the cutoff point by 8 minutes.

    *No pictures since it's a travel day, but I took one of the central station in Berlin. Central stations are our hang outs every few days.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 63: Amsterdam, Netherlands

    22. august 2017, Nederland ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Crazy to think there's officially only one week left!

    Today we saw a lot. We did the free walking tour from our hostel and started in Dam Square. We made our way to the Red Light District (certainly an experience), saw the smallest house in Amsterdam, J. Biebs' new place that he bought for 25 million euro, the first ever condom shop, and the smallest stock exchange (for the wealthiest country at one point). Apparently Amsterdam held 45% of the world's wealth at some point in the past.

    We also saw the most crooked house that makes the leaning tower of Pisa look like nothing. Also, the houses generally lean forward as they attached pulleys to pull things up to the third floor so it wouldn't smash the windows. Houses in Amsterdam as generally thin as in the past, residents had to pay taxes on the width of their houses so they tried to make them thin. If you had a wide house, it was known that you were wealthy. We also stopped by a cheese shop and had samples and saw workers in the canal taking out the bikes that drunk people usually throw in during the night. Apparently it's a very common thing for a person to throw a bike in the canal.

    For the evening, we bought tickets to the Red Light District tour, which turned out to be pretty interesting too. There is a kindergarten right in the middle of the district where the kids walk up "Big Mommas Alley" everyday on the way to school. This Alley is said to be popular if you wish to be in the company of a large African American woman for as long as you pay for.

    There's also a church right in the middle. As it was very common for sailors to live in Amsterdam, they would be gone two months at a time and would "sin" the night before they left. As the church wouldn't be open as early as they left the next day, they allowed the sailors to go in and pay for their sins in advance. They could go in before they sinned, pay a fee and let the church know that they plan to sin and apparently that would make it ok.

    After the tour, we tried to go to the Anne Frank house for the second time. He told us they just released a few tickets for 11:30 the next day if we wanted to buy them (they are usually sold out two months in advance) so we were lucky to get some as we would have only had half an hour inside.

    After that, we headed back to our hostel and sat by the canal for a bit.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 64: Amsterdam, Netherlands

    23. august 2017, Nederland ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We slept in a bit and grabbed some breakfast. Our ticket for the Anne Frank House was at 11:30 so we took our time heading over. It was really worth waiting till the next day because we spent two hours there. It's just so hard to hear that they almost made it to the end of the war, but were killed within weeks of liberation. Only Anne's father survived out of the eight that were in hiding. This is also only one family out of millions who faced the same fate. I certainly recommend anyone who visits Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House and Museum.

    After Anne Frank, we stopped and I had a Dutch pancake with nutella and banana. It was as delicious as everyone said it would be (however it highly resembles a crepe). After we walked around a bit and went into a cheese shop, bought some cheese and a fresh baguette and made our way to sit in Voldelpark before our 5:00 pm entrance time at the Van Gogh Museum.

    We spent a while at the museum and saw a lot of his famous paintings, drawings and letters. He did an average of one painting a day after cutting off his ear until the day he died. We also saw a few Monet paintings which was neat and a few other artists' work as well. It was interesting seeing the original paintings that I learned of during my five years of art classes in high school.

    After the museum, we headed back and had a late dinner at the hostel. I've gained a new found appreciation for tomatoes in Caesar salads.

    P.s. I'm on the "s".    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 65: Amsterdam, Netherlands

    24. august 2017, Nederland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    This morning we went to breakfast with one of our roomies and it was pretty good. I had "traditional American pancakes", but their take on traditional American was funny. The pancakes were pretty small. Have they actually visited America and seen their portion sizes? They were really good though.

    After breakfast we rented bikes and made our way to the countryside. It was really nice and we hung out for a bit and enjoyed the quiet in Twiske park. It's such a change from the city and I took the opportunity to read my book.

    When we were heading back, we went to go see the horses and ended up speaking to a nice Dutch lady for about an hour. She let us in to hang out with the horses for a bit, but the pony kept trying to eat me. Her horse was gorgeous though (it's kept with about 5 other horses/ponies) and it was really interesting to hear her stories. We also made quite a few dog friends.

    After we biked to the city, we went in a few stores and then brought our bikes back to our hostel. We then grabbed dinner and went to a show. When we were walking back for the night, there were numerous guys stripping down and jumping in the canal. Amsterdam is a very interesting city.

    We were rushing back to catch what we thought was the last ferry at midnight, but when we realized we wouldn't make it, we took our time. Turns out the 24 written on the board means 24 hours a day and not midnight so we were lucky. If not, we would have had to walk across a bridge (or Uber it) which would have taken an hour instead of the 5 minutes it usually takes.

    P.s. I had a bad hair day today.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 66: Brussels, Belgium

    25. august 2017, Belgia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today was our travel day to Paris, but we scheduled a five hour stop in Brussels so we could see the city (and try one of their waffles). Brussels is half French/half German so we finally started to understand the language!

    After we ate our waffle (which was delicious), we walked over to the Grand Place and ended up getting into a free walking tour. We saw Mannekin Pis which is apparently the 2nd most popular statue in the world (I will have to check). It is a little boy peeing into a fountain that is 700 years old (but not really as it was stolen 7 times and replaced). We also saw the old church which is a church in a church in a church. They've added to it and refurbished it over the years so the oldest part of the church is in the centre.

    Brussels is also home to the most comic book artists (more than Japan). It's home (or was) to the creators of the Smurfs, Asterix and Obelix, and TinTin. On our tour, we also saw the Queen's and King's galleries. After the galleries, we had a break so Zoë and I opted for Belgian hot chocolates and fries. BEST fries I've ever eaten hands down. We also wanted to get some chocolate from the store and ended up taking too long so we lost our tour guide, but on our twenty minute hunt to find him (which we didn't), we saw the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Mont des Arts gardens, and the Royal Palace of Brussels.

    Brussels is actually a really nice city and I'd love to see more of Belgium one day. Apparently, the north part of Brussels is Dutch speaking whereas the South part is French. Never a dull moment with history in Europe. It's actually a joke here that Canadian history is incredibly uneventful and boring.

    When we got to Paris, we walked over to our hotel and we have such a view of the Eiffel Tower! (Not from our actual room, but when we walk to our hotel). When we walked back at night from supper, it was gorgeous. I can't wait to walk around the city tomorrow.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 67: Paris, France

    26. august 2017, Frankrike ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    This morning we woke up and went for breakfast at a cafe near the Eiffel Tower. We got attacked by a persistent bee and had three people attempting to kill it for us.

    After we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and Champs de Mars. The top of the tower was closed temporarily so we decided to go back at another time so then we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe and took of a walk on Champs-Élysées (not before taking a few pictures of the Eiffel Tower of course). We then stopped in Zara for quite a while and I saw the coolest Sephora store (I've been in many because of Zoe and this one was certainly really cool).

    When we got to Place de la Concorde, we jumped on the metro to head back. After having cold weather for the past few weeks, we are not used to the humidity and we were really excited to shower. After our showers, we went for the most amazing Indian food and finally just got back at 11:30 pm. Now off to bed to get up early tomorrow for the Louvre.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 68: Paris, France

    27. august 2017, Frankrike ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    This morning we woke up and made our breakfast of cereal, yoghurt and banana. Trying to finish up the last of our food before heading out.

    After breakfast, we made our way to the Louvre and spent about 2 hours there to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Hermaphroditos Asleep, the Victory of Samotrace, Great Sphinx of Tanis, the Wedding Feast at Cana, and more. Apparently, if you spend 60 seconds looking at each item in the Louvre, for a steady 8 hours, it would take you 75 days to see everything in there.

    So after seeing the main things we wanted to see, we headed out towards les Jardins de Luxembourg (not before eating a macaroon which was amazing and making our way to a bakery to buy a fresh baguette and Boursin cheese). Our little picnic was really nice, but everyone else there put our picnic to shame with their spreads. The weather was gorgeous though and the gardens were nicer than what I remember them to be.

    After a nap and some relaxing in the gardens, we headed over towards the catacombs. The wait was an hour and a half so we opted to head back to shower before heading out to dinner and to our Moulin Rouge show (which was honestly amazing). I've never seen anything like it and I'm so happy we went. Even though it was at 11pm-1am and we are old grannies with colds.    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 69: Paris, France

    28. august 2017, Frankrike ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Can't believe that it's our last official full day in Europe! It's bittersweet.

    I think Paris knew that it's cold back in Montreal so it wanted to say goodbye to us with the hottest day ever. Zoe had a headache so I went adventuring on my own for a few hours. Had the most amazing hot chocolate at Angelina's (thanks Marni) and walked down Champs Élysées again.

    When Zoe felt better, we went shopping for a bit and back to Champs Élysées for a third time and then for nice dinner at a French restaurant. Now we're all packed up and ready to wake up at 3:45 am tomorrow to make our way home. :)    Les mer

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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 70: Iceland & Home!

    29. august 2017, Island ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today was our travel day home!

    In between our flights, we had an eight hour layover in Iceland so we went to the Blue Lagoon. What a good choice. It was so nice and a great way to finish off our trip, alongside silica mud face masks, steam baths and hot geothermal water.

    In all, what a crazy, wonderful, exhausting, amazing (the list goes on) 10 weeks that this has been. What a journey! I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity explore Europe.

    Time to plan the next trip!    Les mer

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    Reisens slutt
    29. august 2017
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