Day 17

Leaving at dawn we headed out via Eurail to Amsterdam. We arrived around 11AM and were able to drop our bags off at our Hostel and make it back to the Visitors Center to meet a group that was doing free walking tours of the city.
Here is the Anne Frank house, Ashley went here last time she visited Amsterdam, but with a line that stretched down the street and around the corner. So, we decided that the Van Gogh museum was more our style.

Here is an underground Catholic Church that seats 300 people and is home to one of the worlds largest organs. When Catholicism was banned in Amsterdam, more than 300 people would attend this church and shortly after hymns would be blaring into the streets.
The police, not being idiots and good Christians, would not work on the Sabbath. So complaints were filed on many Sundays, but not looked into until Monday came around. Which as we all know, there were no Catholics at mass still so the church remained "hidden."
Another beautiful and surprisingly not smelly canal.
Tulips! We did find some but the fields had not yet bloomed so we did not get to experience the fields of rainbow colors.

Day 13 Easter Sunday

Wanting to go to Easter Mass at Notre Dame de Paris was on our list of things to do for our trip. So we chose to stay with Mary and Brent even though a floor spot was all that was open at their place. We woke up and readied for mass getting to the Cathedral 45 minutes early to stand in line our odds looked good. With 15 minutes left till the start of mass we were close but then for some reason it looked like 4 or 5 other lines had started and were prepared to enter for mass in front of us. So sadly, since we did not embrace the French way of not waiting in lines and just cutting to the front we were denied entry. After much consideration we chose to walk back home and see a few sites on the way.
Hotel De Ville, Paris' city hall and the center of all things political in Paris.
Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum with a very unique exterior. The building was created to be inside-out. Meaning that all the duct work, electricity, and utilities are on the exterior of the building instead of the inside hidden within the walls.

Near where Mary and Brent live in Paris there is a square and Metro station stop called Place de la République, this is where the Statue of Marianne is located.

Marianne is to the French as the Statue of Liberty is to the United States, but theirs is not surrounded by water. "Why is this an important fact to point out?", you ask. because this is where many of the protests begin in Paris and once they have gained mass and strength they typically march to Place de la Nation. Everyone remembers this past year when the french went on multiple strikes, and large protests were occurring.

Day 12

Travel day included an early morning wake-up with a train leaving at 7:05AM.


Once making it from Interlaken our train took us to Bern, where we switched to the TGV, the fast trains in Europe. From Bern we took off to Paris to stay with Ashley's friends Mary Clare and Brent, that are also from the great state of Nebraska.
That evening we went to check out the Eiffel tower. It was lit up for the evening and each hour it sparkles. We stayed the evening and planned on going to Notre Dame in the morning for Easter Mass.

Day 8

This was the last day at our Bed and Breakfast so we enjoyed a nice long French breakfast and enjoyed the morning views from the garden at our B&B. Also, I would like to note that as usual we ended up playing ping pong and let it be put on record that I beat Dustin (probably for the first time) in an amazing match of outdoor ping pong. He may try to claim unfair advantage due playing on foreign soil (we were keeping score in french) but, I won fair and square!

We thanked Marc the owner of the B&B for an amazing time and headed off to Avignon to leave for la Suisse (Switzerland). We wanted to post some pictures of our Bed and Breakfast because it was absolutely gorgeous and we had an amazing time here.

We spent the rest of the day traveling to Switzerland, anxiously anticipaiting the Swiss Alps!

Day 5 to Provence

Woke up bright and early for our train which left at 7:00...8 hours and 3 connections later we finally arrived in Provence. Dustin is now an expert at public transportation and no travel day would be complete without a side stop in Lyon for cafe at a nice outdoor sidewalk cafe.

Arriving in Avignon we lost no time picking up our rental car and headed to the Pont du Gard, an ancient aqueduct built by the Romans a very long long time ago.

After seeing this french monument I believe now I'll be a better french teacher. Then we headed to our B&B. Provence is gorgeous there are vineyards and orchards everywhere admist rolling hills. We got to our B&B frenchly late. It was absolutely gorgeous we were both blown away.

After an aperitif, provided by our lovely hosts we headed to the nearby town of Roussillon and had dinner at Restaurant David. The views were gorgeous and dinner was incredible. We had several courses and every single one was an adventure. It was the perfect way to start off our vacation in southern France.

Eurail Passes are in Hand!

As it gets closer to the big adventure it becomes harder ad harder to sleep and tonight will be even harder. Ashley and my Eurail passes came in the mail today!

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