Interlaken, Switzerland

If you ever have a chance to go to Switzerland, do it! It is by far the most beautiful place I have ever visited. This was the first place where I seriously did not want to leave. I could have easily stayed there for the rest of the summer. It's simply ideal.

Not to mention all the awesome people and amazing activities that I got to enjoy while there. So, let me start from the beginning.

Due to train craziness (the french train system is a mess), basically everyone from law school ended up arriving in Interlaken at the same time. The view was fantastic on the way there. But the view was kinda like that the whole time. lol.

Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea.

The first day we got in late, so I just went and grabbed a pizza from the place next to our hostel and headed to bed. I had skydiving at 8:30am and had yet to check in, so I had to be at the office of the place at 8am. I didn't wanna take chances with being too tired or anything before that.

I should mention that there was the lovely perk of everyone speaking English there. Obviously this was because it was big tourist area, but it was a nice change nonetheless.

We lucked out. We were suppose to be in a 32 person room, but they over booked so we got a private room!

Woke up bright and early the next morning to get free breakfast (there wasn't much to it. lol) downstairs and then ran into Josh, his girlfriend, Missy, and Brian on the way to the place to check-in. Missy wasn't skydiving. She was going to try and tag along but there wasn't enough room for her. :(

We went to this little place across the street from our hostel to grab some food after we checked in. The lady was so mean! I even wished her a good day and she ignored me. I must say that's the rudest person I have run into on this trip.

When 8:30 rolled around, Bradford, Josh, Brian, Marianne, Sage and I all hoped into the van and headed to the skydiving spot. 

When we got there, it turned out that there were two other LSU law people who went skydiving right before us at 8am: Quinn and Ruth. They looked like they had a blast. While we were getting suited up, they were relating to us what happened to them. I was getting so excited!

Where we got ready.

Our group!

Marianne, Brian, Bradford, Josh, me, Sage

We were split into two groups of guys and girls since the airplane is so small. My tandem jumper was named David Bailey! I have an uncle named David Baily so that was neat. We dubbed ourselves Team Bail(e)y. lol. Later on he tried to claim I was his wife, but that didn't fly. haha. It seemed like it took forever for our turn to come up. The girls got to go first and I was called up first (which meant I got in the airplane first and jumped out of it last).

It was soooo cramped in that place. We had the 3 girls, our 3 tandem jumpers, and all 3 of us got camera guys. So there were 9 of us. Kinda crazy. I wasn't scared in that plane at all though. I was just excited and taking in the amazing view!!

Interlaken from up top!

Looking back at these pics, it's kinda hard to imagine I actually was there... weird.

Then, while I was just sitting around enjoying the view and cutting up with the guys, all of a sudden the plane door was opening. It was at that point that it became real. No longer was I leisurely sitting in an airplane, but wind was violently blowing in and there was very little between me and the open air!

Sage was to go first. She started laughing hysterically. She didn't look too freaked out, but you could definitely tell that it was extremely nervous laughter, not silly laughter. She started kinda making me nervous because I could see the fear in her eyes. Then, she was just dangling over the side of the airplane. If you haven't been next to a person who is simply dangling outside of an airplane, then just take my word that it kinda freaks you out. Then all of a sudden out she went!! It was nuts.

Like right after Sage went out, Marianne started scooting to the edge of the door. It was all happening so fast. She didn't seem as scared so I calmed down a little and started getting excited again. My adrenaline was pumping so fast! Before I knew it she was out the door, too! ... I knew what was next. lol.

Then we started scooting. I decided to make the best of the moment and just have a blast. No need to concentrate on the fear. So I was sooooooo excited and ready. I put my head back on his shoulder and screamed, "Let's go!!". Then... out I went!!! 

Team Bail(e)y after we opened our parachute and were just cruising around. This was a great part of it as well because you got to just sit in that sky and take it all in.

That red and white dot farthest to the right is me.

I swear, as soon as we landed safely back on the ground, I wanted to do it again! 

It was neat watching the guys go and parachute out. Everyone had a perfect landing but Brian. He landed in the flowers... lol.

After everyone had finished, we packed back up in the van and headed to the hostel. Because skydiving took forever, we literally got there, got our stuff for water rafting, and then headed down the street for that. 

Most of the law school people who went to Interlaken did the water rafting with us, so it was a HUGE group. Which made it all the more fun. I got to put on a wetsuit for the first time. Elliot saw me and said I totally was working the Lara Croft look. And I was. haha.

So we suited up and all of us go into 2 really cramped vans. It was SO hot!!!! Those wetsuits definitely keep you nice and warm.

When we got to the site, we got a crash course on safety measures and how to row properly. 

Then we carried the rafts down into the water. Since we were the last group, we had to wait for everyone else to push off first. Then it was off down the river!!!

To say that the view was great is a vast understatement.

Our raft: Elliot, Josh, Bradford, Brian, Missy, Me and Frank

It was a blast! At some points our guide even let us just jump in the water and swim around. Sadly, when I was getting back into the boat one time, by fleur de lis ring got caught on the rope and it came off. I meant to take off all my jewelry before we left, but because we were in such a hurry after the skydiving, I forgot. :( I'm hoping I can buy another one just like it when I get home because I wore that ring every day.

Afterward, a bunch of us got pizzas and kabobs (which has been the food of choice for many law students this trip, oddly enough). Many of them were going canyon jumping after we ate. I didn't sign up for it because I figured I had already done skydiving (which was rather pricey) and I could pass on that extreme sport. However, now I'm extremely jealous because after talking to several people who did both skydiving and canyon jumping, apparently canyon jumping was way scarier! Granted, they did admit that skydiving was the best experience of the trip, but I love being scared!

After lunch, I showered, took a nap and played on the internet. I kinda needed a break. lol. When everyone came back from canyon jumping, we got hamburgers at the hostel's grill and just all ate and talked. It was a nice evening. No one really wanted to get crazy that night because almost all of us were going canyoning in the morning. I was going on the most extreme one so I definitely wanted to be well rested!

Hanging out after burgers.

The next morning at 9am it was time to do some canyoning. Basically, canyoning is when you rappel, slide, and jump down rocks and waterfalls. We went to the main place, got our wetsuits, helmets and such, and then took a rather long drive up a mountain to where we began our canyoning. 

When we got to the spot, we got all geared up and ready to go. Btw, all our helmets had goofy names on them. I was Bush. Elliot was Al Kaholic (appropriate). Bradford's was Spartacus. Sasha's was Beaver. And there was a whole bunch more. It was funny. At any point if they needed to call to us, they would yell out the name on the helmet, and because the names were so goofy, you remembered yours. lol.

Then, we had a rather long walk before we got to our first jump. We were very hot and ready to get into some glacial water!!!

Hiking to our first jump in wetsuits... talk about hot!

The first jump was the second highest jump: 30 foot jump off a waterfall.

We jumped from that spot in the upper right hand corner, which is a bit above where the waterfall actually is.

Me in the midst of executing the proper "canon ball" jumping technique. lol

I should note that Elliot did not use the proper jumping technique and landed face first in the water... from a 30 foot drop. Yeah, he came up and when he smiled his mouth was full of blood. We kinda freaked out. Turns out he just bit a chunk off the inside of his lip. All was well, excepted he complained about his deformed mouth for the rest of the day. lol.

On this one you had to jump from where the guy in the yellow is, turn in mid-air so you could hit your back against the wall and then you slide down. You had to do this because if you jumped straight out, there was a good chance you would hit the rocks in the center under the water. It was crazy because Josh's gf, Missy, just jumped straight out and the guide's freaked out because apparently she was very lucky to have missed the rocks!

This was also the highest jump being 40 feet high.

"Bush" repelling down a lovely waterfall. Too bad they didn't take a good pic of this waterfall because it was really pretty.

This was the trick area. We were all supposed to do a flip or something. Most did flips. Elliot and a few other chickened out.

Me about to perform a flip.

Flipping!

Big slide

Me sliding!

For the slides, you had to make sure you used proper technique: arms usually needed to be above your head and legs slightly bent with knees together. One girl didn't keep her knees together and she tore her ACL. A helicopter had to come and get her. I guess she learned that she better listen to directions...

About to repel and then drop down into some crazy slides!

This was really difficult. First they repelled you from a really high rock only part of the way. You had to hold on to the rope that they were repelling you down with. When they blew a whistle you had to let go, cover your face (to prevent the rope from whipping into your face), and then you dropped into a poll of water. After that you slide into another pool. Lastly, which is what is pictured above and below, you were repelled down just a little bit while holding on to the rope, then when he screamed "let go", you did and slide the rest of the way down. It was insane and happened very quickly! You really didn't have time think. You just did it.

That's me sliding down!

Group pic at the bottom

Me and Smells canyoning

The hike to the van where lunch and beer was waiting. 

I think everyone ended up with a few bumps and bruises. I had a nasty bruise on my elbow from one of the slides that's not pictured called the "topsy turvy" slide. You were literally flipped over while you were sliding. It knocked my elbow really good.

When we got back, we took showers, napped, and ate. Then everyone got ready to actually go out and have fun since we weren't endangering our lives the next day! haha

Our hostel actually had the best bar in town right underneath it, so we didn't have to go very far. It was a great night! We closed the bar. haha 

Missy, Lauren, Kierstyn, Sage, Ashley, Me, and Brent

Me, Bradford, and Elliot

The next day, we ended up traveling with this guy we met in Interlaken. He was really cool. All 3 of us had an hour layover in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. So we grabbed lunch and decided to take in some of the nearby sights.

The view from here was really pretty. We wanted to get it in the pic, but apparently the photographer didn't.

We didn't have too much time so I didn't get to take a whole lot of pics. But it was very pretty. (Interlaken was better though. lol)

Then we just continued on our train ride home. It was an amazing trip. I couldn't have asked for anything better. (Except maybe more money and time so I could do other crazy stuff there.) Like I said earlier, this was the first place where I just kept saying that I didn't want to leave. 

Lyon Partying, Paris, and Winery Tour

I suppose I should start off with my somewhat crazy night Friday night. Those of the law students who weren't traveling this past weekend (Which were a lot.) decided to go to the Q Boat. One of my friends from law school, Carlos, has a girlfriend who is from France and she knew the place and thought it would be a great place to go. We got there a little early, and since we hadn't pre-partied (And you kinda need to around here because drinks at bars are usually more expensive), we went to the store and got bread and wine. We got the bread because Michelle and I hadn't eaten dinner. So we sat on the grass outside of the bar and got warmed up for the night!

Roomies!

After all the wine was gone, we made our way into the boat. It was a lot of fun. We were all just dressed up and having a great time. 

The next big event this past weekend was Paris.

This Sunday I did something my mom was worried about me doing from the start of this adventure: I went to Paris by myself. I had an amazing time, despite feeling badly about going against my word to my mom. Sorry, mom. :(

The problem was that there was still so much I wanted to see in Paris. However, I didn't want to spend a lot of money and I wanted to see what I wanted to see. I didn't want to have to wait for a group to decide what they wanted to do or have to go waste my time seeing thing either I had already seen or had no interest in seeing. So, I decided to go by myself. I told people what I was dong, trying to gauge their reactions. My roommates have gone to foreign cities by themselves a bunch and they seemed to see nothing wrong with it. Thus, I decided to go forth with my plan!

My train left around 6:30am. My roommates had stayed the night out because they wanted to go out the night before. I couldn't because I knew I had a long day ahead, so I stayed home and planned out my trip for the next day: figured out what exactly I wanted to do, figured out train stops, made sure I had everything read for my tour of Versailles, etc. Luckily, this also meant that I had the apartment to myself in the morning so I didn't have to worry about waking anyone up at 5:15am. After packing up my booksack, I headed out the door to the train station.

The train ride was easy. The people sitting next to me were nice. I was more anxious about finding my way around when I actually got to Paris. But I knew I had researched everything and would be fine.

Once I got off at the train station and made my way outside of the station, it was a bit overwhelming. I had no idea which direction to go. My first stop was a tiny grocery store I had researched the night before which was right next to the train station so I could pack a small lunch. After getting over my shock, I somehow found my bearings and made it to the grocery store. I bought a thing of Pringles and a sandwich. I had already packed some water. Then I made my way to Notre Dame.

I had already mapped out my route so though the subway was rather intimidating at first, I made my way around with no problem. The neat part was that as I was walking out of the subway station, the Notre Dame laid right before my eyes. It seriously rose in front of me as I mounted the stairs.

The picture doesn't give it justice. It really is impressive. There were SO many people around. Apparently there was this long line to get in. Though it was moving rather quickly, I snuck in at the front. I mean, I'm just one person. I'm sure no one noticed/cared. 

When I walked in and made my way to the front, I realized they were having Sunday mass!!! It was so cool! Though I was slightly saddened when I realized it was in French and not Latin. Oh well. 

It was pretty neat until after the mass they started playing the organ. That was the scariest thing I've ever heard! It's like they were trying to scare the people to get them out faster. I could have sworn that the Phantom had changed venues. It was truly gothic and very impressive, despite the scary factor.

I should also mention that in the picture above was the exact place where Napoleon crowned himself as Emperor Napoleon I and then crowned his wife, Josephine, as empress. Considering my love for the man, this was an impressive place for me.

My next stop was the Arc de Triomphe, so I hopped back on the subway. Again, as with Notre Dame, the monument rose before my eyes as I walked up the stairs from the subway. It was neat.

I then walked through this thing underneath the street and got to walk under the Arc de Triomphe. It really is a wonderful monument. 

Since I still had some time before my 2pm tour of Versailles, I decided I would walk down the Avenue des Champs Elysees, which is one of the most famous streets in the world. 

Of course I had to check out the Disney Store.

I also got to see the Place de la Concorde. It was originally named Place Louis XV to honor the king, but during the French Revolution it was renamed Place de la Revolution. This is the place where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had their heads chopped off. Now it's just a huge public square.

All the stuff around the obelisk is for Bastille Day, which is basically the 4th of July to the French.

After my stroll down the Champs Elysees, I made my way to the Musee D'Orsay. I found tears in my eyes on several occasions. A good friend of mine, Keith Dixon, told me that I would like that Musee D'Orsay so much more than the Louvre, but I didn't believe him. Now I do. There was Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh... **sigh**. I can't even put into words what a wonderful experience it was to be that close to the canvases that these artists once touched. Wonderful. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures so I was able to sneak only one. It was for my mom because we have the copy of it in our house.

It's by Monet. It's "Woman With a Parasol" done in 1886.

After that, I walked across the lawn of the Louvre and to the agency that I was doing to tour of Versailles through. We took a bus to Versailles because it is in the city of Versailles, not Paris. 

I wish I could go into all the history of Versailles. I learned so much. It is such a breathtaking place.

This is the chapel of the palace where Louis XVI got married to Marie Antoinette. There is still a law in the city, dating back to the time of Louis XIV, that says that no building in the city can be built higher than the chapel. It's a short city. lol.

When we arrived, we began with the gardens. They were magnificent! Apparently the land surrounding Versailles was all swamp land. They had to bring dirt in to make the gardens. In the process, since there was so much still water, many of the gardeners died of malaria. At one point, they all went on strike because they were tired of dying. Understandable. So Louis XIV had to bring in Swiss gardeners to finish the job. That's why there is a pond called the Swiss Lake. It's right next to the Orangery, which is full of orange trees which were a favorite of Louis XIV. Today, many of the rich have meetings there, include Bill Gates.

The garden had just begun to bloom!

The Swiss Lake. In the back, that white dot, is an equestrian statue done by Bernini, who was a major artist of that time period. Louis XIV hated it so much that he originally wanted it destroyed but then later put it at the back of the Swiss Lake so very few people would ever see. 

The nice tour guide lady took a pic of me with the fountains. She was pretty groovy.

The Ballroom. The rocks that are in the fountain are from the Red Sea. This is where they were have some of the balls and the orchestra would sit around the top of the fountain and play.

The famous Apollo Fountain.

Versailles from the Apollo Fountain.

There were many other fountains I took pictures of, but that's another story. (Anyone get the Neverending Story reference?? ... I'm a nerd. But I really don't want to make this blog super long with all my pics.)

Then we took a 30 minute break I got some ice cream because it was miserably hot outside. I was practically bathing myself in some of the fountains. lol. Then we went inside.

The top floor of the chapel. This is where the king and the queen would attend service so that way they were above everyone else. Also, no one was allowed to have their back to the king, so everyone had to face him and not the alter during the service. Louis had those people on lockdown. He did this because he remembered when the elite rose against his mother when he was a child and so he kept them in check by making them all live in Versailles, making them learn etiquette which had to be practiced at all times, and silly stuff like this where they had to face him. That way they were so busy making sure they were doing everything right they had no time to rise against him.

The Hall of Mirrors!!

These are not the original chandeliers. Most were destroyed when the people came to arrest Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, though most of the furniture was left in tack. They were rather expensive chandeliers. To keep just one of them lit for 30 minutes, it cost one weeks salary of the average citizen at that time. Louis XIV would invite Moliere to perform his plays here. Each act was exactly 30 minutes, then they would take down all the chandeliers and relight them. Can you blame the people for being a bit ticked off when they approached Versailles to arrest Louis XVI and saw all this???

The very place where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were standing when they got arrested.

The kings bed.

The table where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

The Queen's bed. This is exactly how Marie Antoinette left it. Those sheets that are on the bed are the exact same sheets she slept in. Imagine, those sheets haven't been slept in since she was arrested... They are preserved by plastic cover.

Marie Antoinette's jewelry box... Again, I can't blame the people for being upset when they saw all this. No wonder they got their heads chopped off. The people were dying from poverty due to heavy taxation and the king and queen were living it up. There's a saying that goes, "Louis XIV built Versailles. Louis XV enjoyed Versailles. Louis XVI paid for Versailles." Boy did he! I should also mention that it took 49 years to build Versailles and Louis XIV only got to live in the completely finished palace (called chateau but it's really a palace) for 5 years. That's why they say he built it but Louis XV enjoyed it.

After this lovely day at Versailles, we headed back to Paris. There I went to the Paris Opera House to get some pictures for a friend and then headed back to the train station. I got to the train station about 2 hours before my train left so I decided to go in search for something I had been desiring to try since I first arrived in Franch: a Nutella Crepe. And I found one. 

Yum...

Then I hopped on the train and headed home. Such a long day but wonderful.

Now, jump to today, the law school went on a tour of the Guyot Winery and Vineyard!

The view from the vineyard. We were right by the Rhone valley. 

Our tour guide/the owner of the vineyard.

Some of the vats where they store the wine during fermentation. 

Where the bottling takes place.

Roomies!

Elliot and I with the owner.

Lunch

Sarah and I playing in the vineyard. We're LSU colors!

We added Jen and became Mardi Gras colors. lol.

So that was about it. I've had a wonderful past few days. Looking forward to skydiving, river rafting, and canyoning in Interlaken this weekend! Just gotta get through school tomorrow. Blah. 

Ta-ta!