Copy Mouse

It's no secret that I love Disneyland (and all things Disney really). Being away from Disneyland this past year has definitely been a bummer. It's the first year I haven't had an annual pass since I was 12 years old. Crazy right? Definitely having Disneyland withdrawals (like quoting the Indiana Jones ride for fun). Being the loyal Disneyland guest that I am; I am very critical of other theme parks. I love other parks, I mean come on, Six Flags roller coasters? The bomb. But it's still no Disneyland. Same goes for other places. I just have utterly high standards when in comes to my overall theme park experience thanks to Disney. So when I first heard of Europa-Park, I knew it didn't stand a chance, no matter how awesome it was.

About a week ago some friends of mine (other au pairs) decided to plan a day trip to Europa-Park and asked if I wanted to join in. I had heard about Europa-Park quite a few times over the months, so I decided it would be worth a visit. I told Nacha and Ivanka about it, and they (and others) wanted to join in on the fun as well. Things were discussed, and plans were planned, and soon we had decided that July 1st would be our adventure day. Like I always say: "There's nothing like a theme park to start the month off right." Yeah. You're right. I don't really say that.

Sunday rolled around and we embarked on our adventure in the early morning hour of 7 a.m., which of course caused much eye rubbing and demands for coffee. Once properly fueled on coffee and baked goods, Nacha, Bernie, Albert, Ivanka, and I hopped on a train headed towards Rust, Germany (which is quite near the French/German border). We were to meet up with my au pair friends (who had left earlier than us) at the theme park.

As we jumped off the train and joined a queue to get on a bus that would take us to the park, the weather decided to show off by raining. But not a sudden down pour or thunderstorm, and not even a nice light mist. No. It was a steady "light rain" all day. ALL DAY. Needless to say we were drenched the whole time (water rides didn't help haha). It finally let up less than an hour before we left. Ridiculous, but typical. This German "Summer" weather is all lies. This is not Summer. Wearing pants and closed toed shoes is not Summer. I- Urgh. Okay. Deep breaths. No need to rant about how much I miss California Summer weather. Sorry. Now, back to my story.

After a very, very squished bus ride, we arrived. Europa-Park stood before us in all it's glory. And man, is it big. It's largest theme park in Europe actually. I still eyed it skeptically though. Because as we all know, size doesn't always dictate how awesome something is.

The entrance gate.

We waltzed through the gates, grabbed some maps, put our stuff in lockers (best idea ever), and started to figure out a game plan for the day. Albert was the one that suggest we try to put off the best rides till later, and do all the less exciting rides first. That way we end the day off on a high note.

So we set off into the park. Like Disneyland, Europa-Park is divided into themed lands. Europa-Park's are, quite appropriately, different European countries (such as Germany, Spain, Iceland... you get the idea). Then there are three other sections that house the rides and attractions that didn't quite fit into the other countries themes. Those lands are: Children's World, Enchanted Forest, and Adventure Land. While the country themed lands tended to remind me more of a strange mix between Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland, the odd ball lands reminded me solely of Disney. Which was a cause of much giggling for me because I kept thinking what a big copy cat Europa-Park is. But then again, many theme/amusement parks copy each other, so I'm being slightly biased. Probably more than slightly. Tragically sorry about that.

Here's a map of the park.

The first stop on our "world tour" was Germany, where we met Euromaus. Euromaus (Euro Mouse), the park's mascot, is a grey mouse. Can't help but think of another famous mouse mascot.... Mickey Mouse, anyone? Nacha and I couldn't get over the fact that they deliberately chose a mouse as a mascot, even when they knew that Mickey Mouse was a mascot for another, very famous, theme park. What were they thinking? Who knows. Well, all criticism aside, Euromaus is a friendly guy and we got a picture with him and his dolphin friend.

Me, Nacha, and Ivanka with Euromaus and his dolphin friend.

Next we headed into Italy. Here we road Ghost Castle... an ever so "frightening" ride through a haunted house. Again, sound familiar? (Haunted Mansion). Then we frolicked over to France and rode on the Dinosaur Ride. It was another dark ride, which Ivanka and I enjoyed thoroughly. Especially the sign at the end that says "Please, get off",  ever so politely. All around the park the translated English was quite the giggle. I even caught a few spelling errors here and there. But you have to hand it to them for having the signs in German, English, and French. That's awesome.

After visiting the dinosaurs, we made our way to Switzerland to ride the Matterhorn Blitz. I really wanted to ride this one, because I miss the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland quite badly, but sadly my dreams were crushed. The ride broke down due to technical problems while we were in line. Sad, sad day.

We left the Matterhorn Blitz and walked through Greece to get to Russia (surprisingly not as long of a walk as you'd think). Russia is where I first caught a glimpse of the park's monorail. Another typical Disneyland ride. And though the Europa-Park monorail was similar, it definitely had a European train flair. I especially liked how the different trains had different routes written on the side. Of course they all went to the same places around the park, but you could pretend you were going from Zurich to Frankfurt (or other locations in Europe) if you ever so desired. After ogling at the monorail, we rode the Euro-Mir, which is a roller coaster that simulates astronaut space training. I've never been on anything like it, definitely really cool. You are basically in a pod with four people sitting back to back, and throughout the ride the whole pod spins and it goes down the tracks. And along with the traditional roller coaster picture taking Europa-Park has added a twist: video taping. In certain seats there are cameras that tape all your screams and looks of pure terror. I found this to be quite entertaining. Though, just like the photos, I would never actually buy it.

Finally we were able to meet up with my au pair friends in Iceland. "Hallos" and names were exchanged. From there we went to Portugal and rode our first wet ride: Atlantica Super Splash. We amazingly spared getting drenched. Which didn't really matter at this point considering how wet we were from the rain.

Then we went back to Iceland and went on a super amazing roller coaster called Blue Fire. Well, not all of us. Bernie and Ivanka aren't big fans of the dizzying effects of roller coasters, so they avoided them the whole day. So anytime the rest of the group went on one, they went off on an adventure and did something else. But back to Blue Fire... ah man. It's just your typical roller coaster, sitting with shoulder restraints, but geez is it fast. And there are the wonderful moments were your adrenaline goes haywire from all the twists and flips. Roller coasters are just too much fun.

Blue Fire from a distance.

Sadly after Blue Fire we lost my au pair friends and didn't end up reconnecting with them the rest of the day. But the five of us had fun anyways.

The next ride we decided to hop on was Wodan: Timburcoaster. The theme of this ride is about Norse legends. Which is legit. But they failed when it came to setting the mood in line just because of a few details in decor, like the really, really fake looking wood (which Albert and I rolled our eyes at). The coaster itself totally threw me off. Not literally, haha. It's a wooden coaster, and with most wooden roller coasters one gets used to the idea that all wooden coasters are a bumpy, "hold onto your head" adventure. This one was actually really smooth, a total shocker.

Letting out my inner viking. (Albert being a prankster in the background).

Famished, we dug into our stash of sandwiches. Being the ever savvy people we are, we decided to bring food with us. Nacha, the magically amazing cook, made some legit sandwiches, which were devoured over the course of the day. We also had some snacky food, yummy, though not as awesome as the sandwiches.

While Albert and I ate our sandwiches, the other three decided to go on a quick ride nearby. While Nacha, Bernie, and Ivanka road Whale Adventures Splash Tours, Albert and I tried to find some shelter from the rain. We found a nice awning to sit underneath super close to the ride the others were on. One minute we were eating our sandwiches, and the next minute we were getting soaked from behind. Turns out the Whale Adventure ride is interactive... you can spray water at passersby from a tugboat and they can spray water at you from the docks. We jumped out of the way, grumbling about the bratty teenagers that had succeeded in getting us more wet, and then proceeded to sit in the same spot. Yeah, we are that stupid. The next boat came and what do ya know, it was our friends, and they were feeling pretty mischievous. The trio declared war on the two of us in a series of water canon blasts, and we both ran for it. I, to get a better view for pictures, and Albert to claim watery revenge. After much spraying and yelling, Albert came out the clear winner of the water fight; and the Bernie, Nacha, and Ivanka were whisked away in their tugboat to the end of the ride in shame.

Nacha and Ivanka getting thoroughly defeated in the water battle.

Next stop on our world tour: Scandinavia. Here we rode the Vindjammer, a big swinging viking boat, which was hilariously entertaining due to collaborative efforts of all the riders to make sound effects. Then we decided to try our luck on another water ride, the Fjord-Rafting. Which is like a less tame version of California Adventure's Grizzly Bear Rapids. At one point, to all the girls horror, we bumped into another raft and none of us could quite figure out if that was supposed the happen or not. When all was said and done, I was the only one that escaped getting drenched. Nacha, the wettest of us all, demanded that we go back to Portugal to a warming station (a people sized Barbie box with walls lined with heat vents blowing out hot air) we had seen earlier.

Ivanka making friends with a shark in Scandinavia...

Albert and I on the Vindjammer.

 For our next destination I made a request. I wanted to go on the Vienna Wave Swinger (aka swings) in Austria. So went made our way to Austria by going through Spain. While in Spain, we took a little detour and rode the very county fair like Feria Swing (which isn't really a swing at all). Once we got to Austria I was very excited. I love your typical run of the mill playground swings, so the ones at theme parks are always extra thrilling to me (swings on steroids). California Adventure has swings that were recently updated from being inside a giant orange to being Silly Symphony themed. So when I rounded the bend from Spain to Austria, I wasn't sure what to expect with the Europa-Park swings. Much to my giggles, I saw that they swings were mushroom themed. Yes, that's a theme. The main base was this huuuge mushroom and from the under part of the mushroom hung the colorful plastic and metal swings. Albert and I got in line, which really wasn't a line, since we were the only ones in it. Ivanka, Nacha, and Bernie decided to go on a nearby water ride and not join in on the fun. We got to go on the swings twice in a row because there were only a handful of people on the ride. So lovely. I love feeling like I'm flying.

Albert looking so stylish in his rain poncho.

Footloose and fancy free.

The swings!

After the mushroom swings, we all met up again and traveled through the Enchanted Forest. Which was quite magical. We even saw the witch's house from Hansel and Gretel. Fancy stuff. Once we made it through the forest, we found ourselves in England. There we played soccer in bumper cars shaped like cleats. Truly something everyone should do at least once in their lifetime.

Ivanka in her cleat shaped bumper car.

Once we were done perfecting our soccer skills, we headed back to France. This visit, we rode the Silver Star, a very hilly roller coaster. No flips or twists, but still very thrilling. Once off the ride, we filled up on some hotdogs and sandwiches, and were ready to hit the pavement again.

We failed in our attempts to ride the Volo da Vinci (Da Vinci flying machines) in Italy because of an extremely long line. But while in line we got to witness the most ridiculous on stage performance by Euromaus and his girlfriend. They were singing about the rain twirling their umbrellas while wearing a seriously lacking costume: raincoats, rainboots, jeans, and mouse heads. They looked so cheap! I couldn't believe it. You could totally tell it was two girls. I felt offended for the children, where was the magic?! Ahhhh. Disney would never do that.

Our time at Europa-Park was nearing it's end. Six o'clock was coming quickly, and we knew we had to be choosey about our last one or two rides. I made another request... I begged everyone to go on one of the most boring rides in the park: the Dschungel-Fahrt (Jungle Ride). Why? Well, I am a nerd of epic proportions of course! My favorite ride in Disneyland is the Jungle Cruise (cheesy jokes and all) and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go on a similar ride. So I dragged everyone back across the park to go to Adventure Land. Well, the ride did not disappoint. Of course, it's no Jungle Cruise, but it was close enough. Since there were no guides to give cheesy jokes, I had to resist the urge to not give the tour myself. I know all those jokes by heart, it wouldn't be too difficult haha. Probably the best part of the ride was the fact that it would be oh so easy to just jump off the raft. Safety at it's finest.

Me in front of my look-a-like Jungle Cruise. Life is good.

Bernie being a silly goose.

Floating through an African village.

Silly nonsense.

We decided that we had enough time for one more ride, so we rushed back over to Iceland to ride Blue Fire again. It once again was awesome. But, when we got off the ride we started to panic. We had about fifteen minutes to get across the park, get our stuff out of the lockers, and jump on the bus that would take us back to the train station. If we missed that bus we would have to wait another hour for the next one. So we had to book it across the park as fast as we could, tensions running high. The five of us hopped on that bus with a minute to spare. Now that's what I call perfect timing.

In the warmth of the train home we finally started to dry. Which was quite nice after a day of looking and feeling like we had taken a swim in a lake. Once we got home I was extremely glad to take a hot shower and jump into some warm pajamas.

All in all, I had a lovely day. Rain and a theme park always makes for an adventure. Add on top of that that I was with a great group of friends in a foreign country and you have a winning combination. Europa-Park will definitely be seeing more of me, there's still so many rides to ride! But, in all seriousness.... Disneyland still holds my heart. And that's not going to change anytime soon.

Luck of the Irish

On my father's side of the family, we can trace our Irish roots back several hundred years. Apparently one of my ancestors was knighted. There's even a castle named after us. Fancy smancy right? So, I feel this Irish heritage gives me the right to get stoked about St. Patrick's Day and pinch anyone not wearing green.

This was my first St. Patrick's Day that I could legally drink (considering the legal drinking age in the states is 21 and I'm only 20). Which, I'm not going to lie, got me pretty darn excited. So I made sure that my friends and I had plans to go out and frolic about Karlsruhe (wearing green of course).

As usual, I ended up having to buy something green last minute. I never seem to own anything green even though it's a fabulous color on me. I tend to stick to my neutrals. Point being, I went and bought green jeans. Which I love, and plan to wear quite often. So, see, they weren't just a superfluous St. Patty's purchase. (The fact that I'm trying to justify buying green pants to you shouldn't worry you in the least bit...). And in a very Ashley fashion, the buying of pants late made me late to meeting at Nacha's. When will I ever learn? Queen of procrastination and being unable to be on time ever? Why, yes that's me. (It's so bad that this will probably end up on my gravestone: "Sorry I'm late!").

Nacha, Bernie, Ivanka, and I had a very green themed dinner (see the picture and you know I'm not lying). I had brought along a couple St. Patty's accessories that a friend (thanks Ger!) had sent me from the States. So we decked ourselves out, us girls with green hair extensions, and Bernie wearing a floppy green and white top hat. Then I drew shamrocks on Nacha and Ivanka's faces. And my face as well because both declared my shamrock drawing skills far superior to theirs haha. After our self decorating, we headed out to meet up with friends in front of the Karlsruher Schloss.

Our yummy green dinner!

Nacha, me, and Ivanka with green hair and shamrocks.

We met up with a pretty big group of friends (and friends of friends) near the front of the castle. Our original plan was to meet and then immediately go to one of the Irish pubs in town, but as we should have predicted, they were all jam packed. So we decided to just hang out a bit and try our luck later in the evening. Which turned out to be quite fun. We just stood around talking and drinking beer under the stars. Simple, yet so perfect.

After an hour or two, our group split up to pursue different adventures. The group that I was with (my closer friends), decided to go to Sean O'Casey's Irish Pub. Which is in Marktplatz and only like a five minute walk from the castle. So we gathered our things and set out into the night.

Apparently our waiting didn't help in the slightest. We got to the pub and found it to be full of people packed in like sardines. For a time we loitered out front debating if it was worth it to go in. But several of our bladders made it a necessary thing, so we stirred up our courage and dove into the crowd.

Nacha, Bernie, Gabriel, Ivanka, and I hanging out in front of O'Casey's.

Me, Albert, Maria, and Gabriel wearing green!

Gabriel, Nacha, me, and Albert in front of the pub. See! Here is evidence of my green jeans.

After our bladders were happily relieved, we began to scout for seats. Well, it was more us staring desperately at the full to the brim tables and telepathically willing the people to get up and leave. It seems that our telepathic skills are better than we knew; a whole table stood up and left about twenty minutes into our wait and we all jumped into action and claimed a seat before the other pub goers could.

The rest of our time at O'Casey's was spent drinking ourselves silly and singing along with the live music. We also had a little contest to see who could down their beer the quickest, which I won (of course). But probably the most memorable part of the night was when Ivanka and I bought a rose for Nacha (yes, a guy was randomly selling roses in an Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day). Her reaction was hilarious, I don't think anyone has ever been that excited or grateful for receiving a rose (not even The Bachelor contestants could compete with her enthusiasm).

Maria, me, and Gabriel.

Carmina, me, and Gabriel.

Me showing off my beer and Gabriel being a total goon in the background.

Me, Gabriel, Albert, Bernie, Nacha and Ivanka wearing the hats that the pub gave out to some of the crowd.

Me and Ivanka with Nacha's rose.

Nacha getting emotional over the rose Ivanka and I gave her.

Then our group of eight slip once more. Ivanka and I headed to another Irish pub, Scruffy's, that was less than a ten minute walk from Marktplatz. She and I arrived to find that it was so packed inside that people were drinking out front. We stood for a minute, figuring out a plan, when all of the sudden a very large (tall and wide) man in a kilt approached us. He talked to us a bit (figured out we were foreigners immediately), and then randomly he picked up Ivanka and spun her around in a circle. I laughed, but immediately took a step back not wanting to be next. But I was next, even though I tried to reason with the guy. Once he set me down on the ground he said "It's nothing to pick up someone as small and pretty as you." I blushed, thanked him, and then grabbed Ivanka and we headed into the pub. That guy totally made my week.

Scruffy's is smaller than O'Casey's, so we had quite the adventure getting from the front door to the bar. But Ivanka and I prevailed, getting our beers and making a dash (more like a slow crawl) to the front of the pub to drink out front. We ended up chatting it up for over an hour, enjoying ourselves quite thoroughly, before we decided it was time to call it a night.

It was a lovely St. Patrick's Day. I am one lucky girl to have such awesome friends, great experiences, beer, and green pants all in one evening. And I don't even own a four leaf clover.

Raccoons & Parades

When I think of the word "carnival", several things pop into my head. One thought being of a carnival that is similar to a traveling circus with Ferris Wheels and freak shows. Then I think of my church's Halloween carnival that we throw each year. Lastly I think of Carnival, where people celebrate the time before Lent and the coming of Spring. Then I laugh and think of Mardi Gras (drunk people and beads).

America, unlike the rest of the world (how very typical of us), calls Carnival, Mardi Gras. And it isn't a very huge holiday in the States except for in New Orleans (that I know of... I mean someone random in the Midwest could celebrate it and I would never know haha). However, a large portion of rest of the world celebrates Carnival.

Basically, Carnival and Mardi Gras are the same. It's one big party to shake off Winter and bring in the Spring. A long time ago pagans celebrated it as a way to get rid of the witches and evil spirits associated with Winter (similar to what they did for Halloween). But like a lot of pagan holidays, the Catholic church stepped in an created their own holiday to counter act the pagan one. Carnival became a time to give one last big hoorah before entering into the forty days of Lent. Basically a week to party like there is no tomorrow. And Fat Tuesday is the grand finale. Then you gotta be all holy and give up something on Ash Wednesday. I, for instance, said bye bye to Coke (the SODA... get your mind out of the gutter!), my all time favorite addiction besides chocolate.

Spring cleaning time! Gotta get rid of those witches in your closet!

So Fat Tuesday rolled around and I was pretty excited that I would get to celebrate actual factual Carnival. Since Tuesday is a work day for me, I worked. Imagine that. But, I did get off early to go to Karlsruhe's Carnival parade! Originally Martha was going to go with me, but she decided last minute that she didn't want to go. I was bummed, but it was better in the long run... it was absolute chaos at the parade.

Before I left for the parade, I got all dressed up. Which is what a lot of people do for Carnival in varying degrees. It's kind of like the rest of the world's Halloween (I still think Halloween is better). I, being the ever so creative soul that I am, created a costume out of what I had at home. So I transformed myself into a raccoon. Sans tail (couldn't figure out how to make that in the time that I had). Dressed in a mix of grey and black with a face painted face, I headed out into the city.

My raccoon face painting (acrylic paint).

My whole raccoon costume!

I was running a little late due to my costume, and thus my plans for the parade failed quite epically. You see, I was supposed to meet up with Nacha and her family (who were visiting from Chile) in Marktplatz. But by the time I got there, I realized I couldn't cross the street like I had planned to do, and the parade was just about to begin. And my phone battery was about to die so I didn't have much time to work out a plan with Nacha. So I decided to find a good place to watch the parade and then meet up with Nacha and her family after.

Of course finding a spot to watch was easier said than done. Just to get where I was standing (across the street from Europaplatz) I had to wade my way through hordes of people, most of whom were drunk. I wasn't keen on doing that again, so I looked for a spot nearby where I was standing. I was starting to get desperate when I finally spotted an okay spot where I would only have to peer above a couple heads to see. The parade had already begun, and I was glad just to be able to watch it. Little did I know what I would be dealing with the whole parade.

The parade was almost two hours long, and I instantly regretted not wearing a thicker jacket. My fleece is warm, but not warm enough for the cold wind that was blowing as the sun began to get lower in the sky (being so high above the equator is so annoying sometimes). I spent most of the parade bouncing on the balls of my feet to stay warm. It was also not so fun to stand in one place for that long, but I was distracted enough by the floats and parade goers that it didn't really matter.

The parade was really interesting. It was filled with a lot of traditional German Carnival costumes and clubs. Many of both have been around for several hundred years. Some are newer. But it's clear the clubs take Carnival, their floats, and their costumes seriously. I think my favorite were the witch costumes, they had these scary and intricate masks. They also were hilarious... they walked around with confetti and threw it on people. Or tried to hit you with a pigs bladder (no, I'm not kidding). Other clubs dressed up as lots of other things like clowns, Native Americans, and animals.

One of the floats. The girls in the braids, hats, and dresses are one of the tradition outfits I mentioned.

Pretty sure these guys were jesters.

See all that confetti? The witches were having a field day.

Like most parades, this one involved candy throwing. Which of course is awesome (nothing quite like having hard candy chucked at your head, right?). I like candy, most people do, so I of course wanted some. Now, I really only wanted like a handful or two, which isn't much considering how much candy was thrown. But I was thwarted in my attempts almost every single time I reached for the candy. Why? Problem #1: I'm a butter fingers and can't catch things to save my life. This is always a problem at parades. But usually I'm able to just pick up what I've dropped. But here entered problem #2: The people around me were drunk, greedy little bastards. Anytime candy would come, it was like we were getting brand new iPads thrown at us, the excitement and greed was ridiculous. I would reach for a dropped candy, and either be beaten to it (fair game I guess) or have it snatched out of my hands (not fair at all). Mind you, these are adults I am talking about here. There was only one kid near me, and he was at the front of the crowd, so he was getting candy handed to him by the people in the parade. He didn't have to fight over it like everyone else was. Since I was unwilling to take part in this bloodbath, I just gave up on candy unless it landed directly at my feet. Even then it was a challenge to claim it as mine. Ri-freaking-diculous. I've seen seven-year-old's with more manners.

Blue wig and blondie were the worst of my drunk "friends"...

So aside from ever so delightfully dealing with the company of a drunken crowd, I really enjoyed myself. It was such a cool parade. Candy, costumes, music, and excitement abound. The people watching opportunities were immense. And the looks people gave me for my costume were priceless. My one regret of the afternoon? I wish I had been closer to the front.

Once the last float had floated on by, I entered the sea of people to make my way out of the city center to meet up at Nacha's apartment. Once I got there I was one happy camper to be away from so many people. Crowds really aren't my thing. (Which is hilarious, considering how much I love Disneyland and how I deal with crowds there all the time. Moving on... ) Hanging out with Nacha and her family was a blast. We had tea and cakes and just relaxed. I chatted with her parents (who are super sweet), played Cars with her little brother (lots of car crashes were involved), and watched Simon's Cat videos on Youtube with her two sisters (so hilarious). I was sad to say goodbye when the night was done.

Nacha, Azu, me, and Jo. (Azu was still in her cat costume and I in my raccoon costume).

Carnival. One big party. Fun, and not so fun. I'm not a big party girl... I like my nerdy activities such as book reading more than getting drunk. I am really glad I got to experience it though. My rule is to always try something once, and if I don't like it I don't have to do it again. And I must say that I would definitely go to Carnival next year if I had the chance. I mean come on, who would miss out on an excuse to dress up like a woodland creature?! Not this girl.

Blonde Girl Takes on Paris (Day 3)

Here's part three of my story of how this blonde girl fell in love with the city of lights, and how she learned to blend in and stick out all at once.... all in quick and easy to read bullet points that I jotted down in a moleskine as I explored or took a breather from all of what Paris has to offer.

To find the other parts of my Paris trip, you can click here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 4

Day Three - January 4th, 2012

Weather:
- Morning = sunny, blue skies (hazy)
- Afternoon/evening = cloudy and rainy
Places:
- Basilique du Sacre Coeur and the Musee du Louvre
Events:
- woke up with a sore throat, ear infection, and nasal congestion (why do I always get sick on trips?!)
- dragged myself out of bed, and by the time I was showered & ready it was almost noon
- went to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur
- crazy steep incline to get there (stairs and steep hills have invaded my life here in Europe)
- surrounding Sacre Coeur are house and shops (very touristy, but had "old Paris" feel to the neighborhood)
- bought 2 croissants (very buttery)
- in one of the squares there were a bunch of artists with their paintings (selling them) and portrait artists trying to get everyone to commission them
- I got hit on yet again. This time it was a portrait artist. He told me my face was "a vitamin to the soul" and the convo went downhill from there. Nice... but creepy. Ugh
- got to the church, amazing views of the city standing on the steps
- went inside church (no pictures aloud)
- still was feeling lousy (fever) I went to a restaurant for tea
- waiter was a jerk. Talked about me to a guy at my table, and was like "the table's not the greatest location, but the view is great (they both then stared at me.... oh good Lord).  At least they didn't try to hit on me....
- did some touristy shopping (got cool posters and postcards)
- met nice lady traveling alone, we chatted a bit
- decided to go by hotel to drop off posters (so they wouldn't get bent)
- realized just how sick I was once I sat down on my bed
- rested for a bit, then seriously debated just staying in the hotel the rest of the day to sleep and feel better
- dragged myself out of bed and across the city to see the Louvre
- got lost once I got out of the Metro, enjoyed a walk in a non touristy part of town
- stopped at Bistro Pyramides for dinner
- sweetest waitress & bar tender (both were my servers... it was a small place)
- got a coke, fish & chips, salad, and bread
- liked the food, but it wasn't my favorite of the food I had had during the trip
- for dessert I got a Tarte aux Poires (weird/strange)
- once again debated on going back to the hotel to sleep
- was dealing with a really nasty fever, shakes, congestion, and my ears hurting (was so over it)
- ended up going to just look at the outside of the Louvre, but once I got there I knew I would have to go in, no matter how sick I was
- great decision, the Louvre is the best museum ever. I was giggling the whole entire time, I'm such a nerd
- saw Egyptian artifacts, Roman sculptures, Greek artifacts, and Italian paintings (including Mona Lisa)
- bought a poster in the gift shop
- Thoroughly exhausted, I went back to the hotel to sleep. Tossed and turned, wishing I had medicine with me, but I finally fell asleep
Thoughts:
- My hotel key was so freaking heavy. And it was an actual key, not a card. So strange.
- I always get sick on fun trips! It's beyond annoying.
- The Sacre Coeur is really cool, but the surrounding area and the view impressed me the most.
- The hotel wifi sucked. But, on the bright side... at least they had free wifi.
- I love the posters I bought. Can't wait to hang them up at home.
- The Louvre is like crazy huge and amazing, and it's the best museum I have ever visited. I must return!
- It's impossible to see everything in the Louvre. It's also very easy to get lost, which I managed to do.
- My favorite thing at the Louvre was the Egyptian artifacts. Especially seeing the eye of Horus everywhere. I am such a nerd.
- Even though I was nasty sick, I am really proud of myself for pushing through and continuing my exploring of Paris. I really would have regretted not getting to go to the Louvre if I had just slept.
Fun Facts:
- Basilique du Sacre Coeur
    ~ Very well known for it's "white onion domes."
    ~ Was built to repay a war debt to Germany.
- Musee du Louvre
    ~ over 30,000 items in the museum.
    ~ organized into 3 different wings.
    ~ General admission is 9 Euros.
    ~ People 26 and under can get in for free Wed & Fri after 6 p.m.
Photos: 

Looking back over my shoulder at one of the streets I walked up to get to the Sacre Coeur.

The amazing view from the steps of the Sacre Coeur.

See what I mean about "white onion domes"?

It was really windy!

Enjoying the sun after so much nasty weather. It was still really cold though.

Smiling through the fever... I'm fierce like that.

Me in front of the Louvre.

Statue that is apart of the Egyptian exhibit in the Louvre.

Hieroglyphs.

This Egyptian lady would fit right in with today's fashions haha.

Where did the mummies go?!

I got a poster of this artwork! Love it.

I immediately recognized this, not because I'm so art smart (sorry Mrs. Akashi), but because this is on a Coldplay album. I'm pathetic.

The Mona Lisa! Small and fierce, demanding a loooot of security.

A Roman statue.

To continue the story, you can check out my other days in Paris here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 4