Leaving Paris

Paris to Zurich, July 17

Well, I’m sitting on a train to Zurich! It was a little hard to say goodbye to the City of Lights after so long, but at least I left with the feeling that I had taken advantage of every moment and done everything I had intended to do and more. About twenty minutes ago we grazed the German border but I believe we are currently in Switzerland. Our Eurail passes got us first class tickets so the seats are quite nice! It’s been fun to watch the landscape pass – there’s something about the view out of a train window that makes the whole countryside lovely, even in the rain under gloomy skies.

Even though a three-day trip to Paris may seem like quite the teaser, I think we were able to cram a lot of amazing things into such a short visit. I took Mom and Dad to some of my favorite spots, discovered over the past month. Luckily, we made it out to Jardin du Luxembourg the first day (Bastille Day, July 14th) while it was still sunny and also made it to Angelina for some hot chocolate, Shakespeare and Co., Notre Dame, Victor Hugo’s house, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, Ernest Hemingway’s house, the Pantheon, my favorite crepe stand next to my hotel/apartment, and even got to hear Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Saint-Chapelle cathedral. Quite a packed few days! I’m really glad I got them to go to Angelina because it really is easily the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. And we did two walking tours that were quite reminiscent of the structure of my classes during the program. Mom joked that they got a taste of my experience for a much lower tuition rate.

After we check into our hotel in Zurich, we will be heading up to Bern, a quaint little mountain village that is actually the capital of Switzerland (surprise!!). I’m excited to be seeing new things and experiencing a whole new environment but I’m a little nervous to not speak the language at all. And I really don’t like German. I just don’t think it sounds very nice. Quite the change from romantic, enchanting, flowery French.