Italy, again.

Dear friends,

Switzerland had perhaps the most lovely landscape I have ever seen, but boy am I glad to get out of that country. Literally sucking our wallets dry.
I had a hard time with it honestly, poor James had to deal with a Sheena breakdown, lol.
But we had a lovely time in Switzerland though, and in Lausanne, which is just a beautiful city. We met the most wonderful couch surfers who made us awesome Swiss food.
We had raclettes and some amazing fondue (which swiss people would argue is not french, its a mini war, i guess this is what's important when you're a neutral country, lol).
Also, we went out to this realy great Chinese restaurant with some of our new friends and then finally went out to a club in the Lausanne Flon district which is apparently pretty famous.
It was a good time although Europe has still disappointed with its crappy music.
However, I could not get over how in Lausanne at this club they were broadcasting the Gator game! CRAZY! It made me feel a little homesick honestly.
We finally were able to get out of Switzerland yesterday, after is costing an arm and a leg to do so, but now we are in lovely Florence with Lindsay and Ross Stowers and their lovely family. We're only here till Wednesday night thought because then we are going to BARCELONA.
I am super stoked about Florence though and getting the best gelato I've ever had and seeing the Duomo.

Today will be a day of walking and love I'm sure.

Switzerland

Switzerland is so expensive! Just as an example, the dollar is about equivalent to the Swiss franc, but a McDonald's meal (not that I would get one) is 14 swiss francs! CRAZY!

Anyways, the last couple of days I've been at L'Abri in a small little village up in the Swiss Alps.

Go here for more info about L'Abri.

It's been so good. I read an amazing book that God just used to kill me, in a good way of course. The wound is open, scraped out, and being treated. Perhaps some real healing can begin. The week before I felt on the verge of emotional burnout, some days thinking I really was going crazy. Four days in the Swiss Alps has brought me sanity. God has given me clarity, hope, and love.
I feel refreshed and refocused. I feel healthy.

Thank you all for your prayers over this part of my journey.

I ate some wonderful food at L'Abri, but mostly just enjoyed the pace of life that allowed me five hours of reading and drinking tea in a cabin overlooking the snowcapped Swiss Alps everyday. In the evenings before dinner I would take walks along the edge of the valley and meet some Swiss cows along the way. Swiss cows have bells around their necks; you could hear them all the time at L'Abri. One cow even came up and licked me. Weird, but really cute.

Now I'm couchsurfing in Lausanne. James and I are reunited.
Tonight we are going to check out the cinema portion of this awesome music and art festival, and then we are going to check out some house/techno clubs.
Lausanne is so beautiful. They have a really gorgeous gothic cathedral here that reminds me of Notre Dame.

I miss Paris.

Also, Lausanne is on this huge lake, nestled between the Swiss Alps. The town of Evian (like the water) is right around the corner. The water is awesome here.

It's almost too cold, but it's kinda nice.
We leave to Florence on Sunday night. It will be nice to be in Italy again. I wonder if I will be able to afford Italy. I can't afford Switzerland, but it's nice to just sit outside and look at how pretty everything is and be hungry and homeless and still absolutely lovely.

I might be back in Orlando later than I thought. But if you know me, you probably knew that would happen.

We'll see.

Four days is not enough

This is my last day in Rome. I'm so sad about this. Tonight at 11pm I take the night train to L'Abri. I'm going alone because James is going to stay in Rome and then meet me in Lausanne later this week.

I really like Rome. Not as much as I like Paris, but maybe I haven't spent enough time here. It's so beautiful. The weather is steamy but it almost makes everything feel more ancient...I dont know how that works.

Vatican City today. Apparently there's a pope party. Should be fun. :)

I hitchhiked in Germany yesterday. Imma big girl now.

I am in Rome! Ahh! I dont have much time at ths internet cafe but I just wanted to give God so much praise for my day yesterday it was beautiful and lovely. I cant wait to tell everyone more! Mwah!

Berlin

Berlin has been so lovely to us. I wish I had more time to write, but I want to get a small nap in before our train at 4:30, so I will be leaving oh...in two hours or so. AHH!

Well Paris was so amazing.
Nuit Blanche was everything I thought it would be and so much more. I just love that city.
James and I were the only ones of the group we went with that made it through the night. We're so insane sometimes!

The metro not working wasn't even an issue for us because by the time we got on the metro ride home it was 7:00am.
My favorite thing I saw at Nuit Blanche was this huge disco ball suspended by crane over the Luxembourg gardens. The artist wanted to bring stars to the city of light so the ball reflected stars everywhere. It was so beautiful.

We finally went to bed at 8am and got up at 2. We got out the house by 4pm and were able to go to the Louvre for about an hour (FOR FREE!) which, ya know, is INCREDIBLE.
We then went back, got our things and took the metro to our train. We took the overnight train to Berlin.

Two years ago one of the students involved in the high school ministry I worked with, Student Venture, hosted a German foreign exchange student who was also a Christian and is amazing. I contacted him a few weeks ago about staying with him when we were in Germany. Well we were actually able to meet up here in Berlin! It was the sweetest thing ever and so awesome to see him after two years. We stayed with two of his friends from church, a recently married couple who are our exact ages, Frank and Janette, and they were such AMAZING BLESSINGS to us. Frank and Janette are vegans and they made us the most amazing vegan dinner last night and then Frank had school off today and toured us all around Berlin. In addition, Thomas gave us a tour yesterday.

Today we saw it all, the Reichstag, the Jewish Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Postdamer Platz (we saw a movie in the sony center tonight!) the Berlin Wall, the art/graffiti district in East Germany, we got amazing doner kababs, an awesome german pastry that I can't pronounce lol, we saw the old kaiser church that had a bomb dropped in it, walked and used the oldest UBahn station in Berlin, walked through the most expensive mall in Berlin...wow...amazing day and night.
Yesterday we saw Bradenburger Tor and walked through Tiergarten for a bit. Then we went to Alexander Platz and saw the TV Tower (Frank and Janette live 5 min walk from it) and then walked to the Berlin Dome and the fountain of Neptune and the surrounding areas.
It was such and incredible night. Frank is so awesome and lived in Minnesota for a summer, so was able to communicate with us flawlessly. He also loves history and his city and politics and was really a wonderful tour guide.
I just feel so incredibly blessed and loved and taken care of.

Tomorrow (today, in an hour) I board a train to Frankfurt, where I will stop for a bit, put my luggage in a locker, and then take another train to Darmstadt, where my mother used to live.
I think tomorrow is going to be a really hard day for me, so please pray.
Also, tomorrow I am going alone. James needs another day on his railpass so he's going to drop me off in Frankfurt and then his train continues to Rome. It will be a very long (16hr) train ride for him and he will arrive in Rome at midnite. So pray for his travels as well.
I will play in Darmstadt for a bit and then continue to Rome on an overnight train that will put me in Rome by 9am Friday morning.

Oy I am so tired I can hardly see straight, but I love and miss you all. Please pray for me, I'm scared about the things I will encounter but can sense that God really wanted me to encounter them alone without James. I know the power of meeting alone, intimately with God, but pray that I would crave and really be able to do that tomorrow.
Pray.

Love you.

How do I describe this goodbye...

Sitting in Paris with another headache/beginning of a migraine=no fun.
However, I'm still sitting in Paris. I love love love this city. So very much. Je t'aime Paris.

To recap on the last couple of days though...
After mountain day on Sunday we spent the next Monday doing literally nothing around the house in Plascassier. We were very productive and did our laundry, finally, and then when Emilie got home from school she walked us around Ville de Grasse, an itty bitty village on top of a hill nearby. It was were the elementary school was and some cute parks whose swings and other playground toys we played with for awhile. Afterwards we went back to the house, ate some dinner...and I think James and I watched a movie, I honestly can't remember.
The next day we called "Tomoraco" because we were planning on going to Monaco, but alas, we woke up too late and missed the bus from Valbonne Village. After sitting around at home, again, Julien, a boy who rents a room downstairs, came home from work and was able to take us to Moans-Sartoux, where we were able to catch a bus into Cannes. We just went to the beach in Cannes and then decided that we wanted crepes from this Fenocchi stand that we like in Nice, so we hopped on the bus to Nice for 30 minutes, grabbed ice cream and crepes, walked along the beach promenade, then caught our bus back to Valbonne.
We called Wednesday "Tomoraco" again, but then we missed the bus, AGAIN. So we ended up figuring out a way to get to Nice even though we missed the bus. It took us twice as long, but we worked out the connections like pros, and were in Nice by 2pm. However, we decided it was too late to go to Monaco, so we just had another day in Nice, where we went to our favorite crepe and ice cream stand, our favorite boulangerie, and our favorite overlook of Nice, at the top of the Chateau.
That night we had to most amazing dinner of our lives.
Lisiane had invited some people over, and made rice with shrimp and fish and chicken and corn and veggies and it was so yummy. It was served with some yummy rose wine as well. In addition, we had AMAZING crepes for dessert, with nutella and jelly and whipped cream and brown sugar and confectioner's sugar and lemon juice as choices for toppings. I actually got to make majority of the crepes, which was awesome! (So roomies, watch out). James and I passed out that night, and tried to make it through a movie after our sugar coma, lol, but we were just so happy and overwhelmed we literally sat rubbing our tummies and sighing. It was the most perfect send off dinner.

We called Thursday "Tomoraco" and we actually got up in time, made the bus, and finally made it to Nice and then took the connection to Monaco. This was not before going to our favorite boulangerie, then our favorite crepe/glace shop, then our favorite glace vendor. We're crazy, I know.

So we ended up only getting about 2 hours in Monaco, but it was just beautiful. We walked through the Monte Carlo Casino picture and took pictures through our fingers that will be permanent only in our minds because we didn't bring our cameras. We sat at an overlook in front of the Casino that looked out over the cruise ships and the yachts in the harbor. We ate another pastry and made up stories about the lives we would lead as rich people with boats. We walked along the coast line and then up some random stairway that actually were steps along a cliff near a Grace Kelly monument. Monaco was so beautiful, but way too expensive and flashy for us. Lol.

After taking the bus home we had to rush to pack because our bus connections were late and got us home at 8:00 and we had an 8:30 train. Oy vey! So we rushed and said hurried goodbyes (which was so sad) and Jack drove us to the next stop on the line, in Cannes, so we could be sure to make our train.
After getting some food in Cannes, we finally got on our eleven hour train to Paris. It didn't seem so bad this time around, although my neck issues have only progressed through the days (please pray, it's been so painful lately).
But we woke up in Paris, which is just a beautiful thing to behold.
Oh city, how I love thee.

Today, after getting back in to Jessica's apartment in Courbevoie (with our French Canadien and Indonesian friends, again! Yay!) and after doing some grocery shopping, I left with Alessa and Michelle (the canadiens) to do some thrift shopping.
Oh. Em. Gee.

I found the jackpot of thrift shopping in Marais today. Places like Freepstar just littered the streets of Marais. I was actually overwhelmed because it was like every single store was vintage heaven. I settled on a black scarf and a white scarf that I got for a euro each, but I'm definetly going back tomorrow and hardcore sifting until I find the pieces I want (Dana, Whitney, Jess B., Kate, Crystal, Angela, and all my other vintage store owning friends, this store would make you joyfully cry, I'm sure).

Tomorrow Paris explodes.

I really need to get rest for it because tomorrow will be non-stop until 7am in the morning. Please pray I am physically able to do it, because Nuit Blanche is going to be so sick.

After shopping at Marais today we walked around the Louvre and then walked around the Montparnasse area and then back to the Latin Quarter for a bit. I got to take the girls to Shakespeare and Co and this really awesome used bookstore/cd store/vinyl shop that I love (Boulinier). While walking through the streets you can just see that the city is ready, stages are set, screens are prepped and ready to go; tomorrow night Paris is gonna be crazy.
The guides for the night are in every Metro stop, everyone's talking about it...EEE I can not wait.

So until then...bonne nuit!

I will try to write tomorrow...the day after tomorrow morning...but perhaps the next time I write will be in Berlin. On Sunday after hitting up all the museums for free (first Sundays, woo), James and I will hop on another night train to Berlin, where we will be staying with my friend Thomas' friend. I think next week will be the start of the insanity.
Bring it. :)

McDonald's in Paris made me happy today.

No, not because I'm an America craving junk food.
Because today, McDonald's was warm, had free bathrooms, and free WIFI.
Things we all take for granted in America, seriously.

After getting off an eleven hour train to Paris the last thing I wanted to do was use a cold, dirty bathroom and have to pay euros to do so.
McDonalds had such a lovely bathroom, it was clean and warm, and they had free WIFI. And James and I are at our second home in Paris, in Courbevoie.
It's so great to kind of have a handle on this city.
Today we tackled the metro like pros, I'm so proud of us.

And today off I go to Marche Aux Puces in Saint-Ouen, then maybe some time alone in the Luxembourg Gardens, and maybe I'll meet James for dinner in Montemartre or something lovely like that.

Paris, je t'aime.

We're here only for the weekend because of Nuit Blanche 2009. You gotta check it out.

OHHH I'm so excited.
And then, Berlin, and then Rome and then Switzerland and then Florence and then Barcelona and then Bilbao and then Paris and then London and then NY and then...

Oh this is going to be the craziest month of my life, I know it.

*Short little post, will write more about what it was like to visit Monaco (which is another country, who knew?) and say goodbye to Cannes and Nice and Plascassier and Jack Roquemore and fam)*