Paris: Part I

Little Baby in Paris

We wanted our trip to end with a bang so we'd end our journey in Paris. This portion of the trip would fall on my 30th birthday as well. How lucky am I to have gotten to celebrate my 30th rotation around the sun in the City of Light? Very lucky. Very very lucky! To this day, I still can't believe that it happened and I actually went there for 3 days. I'd been dreaming of visiting Paris since I was an itty bitty girl and that dream finally came to fruition.

Since our flight wasn't until two o'clock in the afternoon we got to sleep in and have a nice, quiet last morning in Copenhagen. We made sure the flat was just as tidy as it had been when we arrived then we had some breakfast. Since it was still pretty early we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood since we hadn't gotten to do that yet.



Our first peek at the Eiffel Tower. We got a little excited.

We got to see some critters including a some snails, bumblebees, lady bugs, birds and a gorgeous Siamese kitty in addition to a plethora of flowers. Even though I was very excited about Paris, I was sad to be leaving Copenhagen since we'd had such a lovely time there. After our little stroll we grabbed our bags and went into town so Melissa could send a postcard to her mum. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a guy with two IKEA bags full of packages (must've been an Ebay seller) and an Australian woman who talked the teller's ear off. What should've been a 5 minute post office visit turned into half an hour and when we finally got out of there we'd just missed the train to the airport that would've gotten us there on time. Once again we got there late and had to haul ass through the airport. It was not fun times. If you know me well, you know that running is not my jam (I'm more of a fast walker) so it was a nightmare having to race through the airport again with my suitcase in tow. The airport had countdown timers painted onto the floor telling you how far you were from the gate and I remember thinking, "I CAN'T RUN FOR 3 MORE MINUTES!" I'm honestly surprised we didn't die. When we got to the gate I could see an Easy Jet pulling away and thought, "Welp, there it goes! We missed it!" but it was only pulling into the gate. We'd later find out that when our tickets said "no check in later than such and such time" it meant no security check ins past that time, not gate check ins so we actually had plenty of time and didn't need to kill ourselves running. -______-



I'd been waiting to take this picture my whole life!

Our flight was only about 2 hours so we arrived in Paris around 4pm, however, the airport was kind of far from the city so we didn't end up getting to the flat til around 6pm. Our host didn't think we were arriving til 7pm so he was napping when we finally reached the apartment. The flat wasn't as large as it appeared in the ad but it was cute and centrally located (we were literally a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower). As soon as we got settled we walked down to see the tower. It had started drizzling by the time we got to the park but we didn't mind. We were just so happy to be taking selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower! Everyone was taking goofy touristy pictures of themselves "holding" the Eiffel Tower so naturally I wanted one too. I did give myself quite the fright taking one of these pictures, though. Melissa was trying to get the angle right to look like I was holding the tower and I kept stepping back without really looking where I was going. When I did glance behind me I was ONE STEP AWAY from a 12 foot drop onto concrete! I'm surprised they didn't have a rail or anything at that spot and I wonder how many people have fallen off that ledge taking silly pictures. The fact that I almost fell and broke my neck would haunt me a bit for the remainder of the trip (and that I could've died the day before my birthday--yikes!)



A dream come true!

By this point it had started to rain pretty steadily so we decided to go look for something to eat for dinner. Melissa asked me what I had wanted to eat and I went, "Ummm..." and she said, "Just say it. You want pizza again." I TOTALLY WANTED PIZZA AGAIN! We found a pizza place right down the street from our flat that was pretty busy so we knew it had to be good. We got a little table for two and ordered another veggie pizza. I got to hear Melissa speak French for the first time that night and I was so impressed. She'd been telling me the whole trip that her French was rubbish and that she could barely remember it but as soon as she started speaking it I guess it all came back to her. I had to sit there in silence and just nod my head and throw in the occasional "merci". I had been worried since I hadn't practiced any French prior to the trip but I was able to get by with only knowing:

*thank you
*yes
*hello
*goodbye



Pizza my Heart

Everyone in Paris knows enough English to communicate with American tourists but I still wish I was able to speak French. I've just never had a brain for language (minus my mother tongue). While we were waiting for our pizza we spent the time drooling over one of the waiters. Since the place was so packed there wasn't much room to move around so every time he'd walk past our table his bottom would be inches away from me and I'd really have to suppress the urge to smack him on the butt. It was a good bum. We must've been annoying the two guy sitting next to us with our English jibber jabber because after about 5 minutes of listening to us, they got up and moved one table down. However, one of the guys continued to stare at me through his whole meal. Weirdo. Our waiter must've thought we were a lesbian couple because he brought our pizza in a heart shape. I did appreciate the cute factor but I feel we were cheated several inches of pizza with this shape :/ For dessert I ordered the tiramisu (my favorite) for my birthday eve treat and it was the BEST tiramisu I'd ever had. It was more of a pudding-like consistency than the cake-like version I've had at home. It was heaven and well worth the 8 euros. After our meal we waited for ages and ages for the waiter to bring the check. I kept giving him the stink eye but he still continued to ignore us. Finally we started putting our jackets on and I guess that was the unspoken symbol in France that you're ready for your check because he immediately brought it after that.



The River Siene

We walked back to the Eiffel Tower after dinner to see the lights and it was sparkly and beautiful but by the time I took my camera out it stopped! I guess they only turn the lights on every hour for 5 minutes after dark and I got my camera out at 9:05pm. Merde! So that's why I have no pictures of it at night. When we got back to the flat my feet were pretty tired from all of our adventures that day so I had another soak in the tub. We turned in around 11pm that night and went to sleep dreaming about VERSAILLES (and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau fyi). My birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year and I would get to spend it like a Queen in the royal palace!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Courtney

Copenhagen: Part III

Our final day in Copenhagen fell on Good Friday and I'm not religious or anything but it was a blessed day. Again we woke to absolutely divine weather; the sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean. Just another perfect day to be on holiday. We got up early and made our way over to a bike rental and would ride around the city on bikes the entire day. We had a choice between two standard bikes or two "luxury" bikes. The standard bikes were cheaper so we told the guy we'd just take two of those however when we went to pick our bikes out there were only luxury bikes left. We gave the numbers of the bikes to the dude and he charged us the standard price. However, when we were riding away I think he noticed that we were on the good bikes and he made an "Ah, shiiiit" face :p But we were like, "Byeeeee!"

As far as bikes go, I have to say that the Dutch have the Danish beat. These bikes were okay but the brakes were weird. Instead of having two handbrakes, our bikes had a hand brake for the front wheel and then a pedal brake for the back wheel. Since I'm right handed I normally keep my right leg on the pedal when I come to a stop and put my left leg on the ground but the pedal brake was on the right hand side so if you put the least bit of pressure on the right pedal the bike would start to brake. It was a total pain and my left leg was dead by the end of the day from having to use it to push myself forward all day. Oof! But besides that little hiccup we had the best time riding all over Copenhagen.

Our original plan was to go thrift store shopping but since it was a holiday all of the shops were closed! That was a bummer. On our ride we passed a fancy church from 1698 so we decided to check it out (my mom was happy that we "went to church" on Good Friday, haha! We each lit a candle for 1 euro and took some cute pics before hitting the road again. However, there was this amazing carved wooden organ inside and I was pretty blown away that someone long ago carved it by hand. Being a 2D artist, I'm always super impressed/awed by 3D works and this one was pretty hardcore. After that we rode over to a few other churches just to admire the architecture then we headed over to the shopping district, Strøget. I was hoping some of the shops would be open there but only shops with food were open. We then rode over to Nyhavn and parked the bikes for a bit and went in search of food since it was lunch time by then. The restaurants along the canal were all packed and everyone was eating outside and enjoying the sun shine. We happened to walk past this couple on the street that were each eating delicious looking pizzas and our mouths started watering like crazy. Melissa asked if we should just ask them where they got the pizza instead of wandering around like zombies for food and I told her to go for it. It turns out that the pizza place was only a block away and was super cheap! It was this tiny hole in the wall called Pizza Time and we got the best veggie pizza for 8 euros! Oh, man, was it GOOD!

After lunch we decided to ride over to the beach. When we got to where the beach was supposed to be (according to the map) there was no beach! It was just a port and lots of construction. Such a bummer! While we were there Melissa stopped for a Nutella crepe and we sat and looked at this gorgeous fountain. Next we rode past the Marble Church and over to Østre Anlæg Park. We saw lots of little doggies running around and I even got to see my first castle, Rosenborg, which was inhabited by the royal family until 1720. Now it's more of a historical museum and houses the crown jewels. Outside the castle there were soldiers with huge guns and that freaked us out so we decided to go to the botanical gardens instead. The entrance to the gardens wasn't easy to find, however, and we wasted about half and hour trying to get in. When we finally found the entrance a dude told us they'd just closed. EPIC BUMMER. It was pretty late by then so we decided we should probably take the bikes back. The sun was just setting when we got back to the bike shop and it was really pretty to see at the end of our day. I was happy to get back onto the train after riding bikes all day. Melissa made another delicious pasta dinner and we finished off the last of the chocolate cake.

The next day would be the final leg of our trip, PARIS!

Copenhagen: Part II (Tivoli)

Our second day in Copenhagen was an extra special day because we actually had something planned instead of just wandering around. On this day we'd be visiting Tivoli Gardens, one of Denmark's leading tourist attractions. Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world dating all the way back to 1843 and was an inspiration for Walt Disney to open his own amusement park, Disneyland. While planning our trip I found out that Melissa had never been to an amusement park before so I thought this would be a great place for us to visit.

When we got to the park you had an option between buying a pack of tickets or getting an all-day pass but since we didn't have any other plans for the day we decided to get the unlimited pass. The first ride we went on was "The Mine" and you sat in a cart and had a laser gun to shoot at the gem stones that matched the color of your laser. Since I've been playing video games my entire life my hand-to-eye coordination is pretty pretty pretty good so I hit the most gem stones ;)
The next ride was a little roller coaster called Rutschebanon (translation: the roller coaster). This would be Melissa's first real roller coaster so I didn't know how it was going to go. Would she hate it? Would she barf? Luckily, she liked it. Her body's reaction to her first roller coaster was so cute; she started crying and laughing! It was adorable! That ride was pretty tame though, I think it only went about 30 mph so the real test would be this monster in the China Town portion of the park, The Demon. This thing went upside down about 4 times and reached 50 mph. To be honest, I was kind of worried I might barf on this one myself! They didn't allow any purses or personal items on this ride so we got a locker and dumped our stuff off first. The Demon turned out to be our favorite ride! We even went on it a second time a few hours later.

The next ride we went on was The Golden Tower. It slowly pulls you up the tower and you get an amazing view of Copenhagen. We could see everything but it was kind of hard to enjoy the view when you knew you were going to be dropped at any second. I kind of lost my shiz when it dropped us to tell the truth. My stomach went hurdling up into my chest and I could not stop screaming until we came to a stop. I kept telling my brain to stop but it was just a natural reaction to plummeting 400 ft. I guess. Once we got off we were both laughing like maniacs and we walked over to the ride adjacent to the tower. This ride was called Vertigo and it was totally BANANAS. I don't know what even possessed us to go on. It was a looping plane ride and you could choose to go either straight or backwards. We were pretty intimidated with this one so we asked the dudes behind us if they minded just going straight (they didn't mind). This ride was like being inside a dryer. It spun us every which-a-way at 60 mph! Not only did the plan spin in all directions, it was connected to this giant pole that spun clockwise at the same time! At the end of the ride one of my braids exploded out! I was certain my elastic had fallen into the lake that was right below us but when we got off it was right inside my jacket. So lucky!

The next ride we went on looked super cheesy but it wound up making us totally ill. It was called The Dragon and all it did was swing you back and forth but it made me and Melissa super duper nauseous. We had to sit down for like an hour after that one and felt like such little babies. While we were taking a break Melissa stopped for a cup of mint tea. I'd only every had peppermint tea, which I wasn't crazy about but she gave me a little sip of hers and it was so DELICIOUS. It was loose leaf tea served in these adorable clay tea pots. I usually don't put sugar in my tea and as a result, I've never been much of a tea drinker. However, after tasting Melissa's that had brown sugar in it, I will from now on take sugar in my tea. It was a little chilly that day so it was so nice to sit on these furry blankets they had outside and sip hot minty tea. I had my blueberry Luna bar that I'd stashed in my purse as well so I felt refreshed after our little break.

We walked around the gardens for a bit while our tummies settled then we went on this cute little boat ride. These little boats were kind of difficult to steer so we unintentionally kept crashing into other boats (oops!) but it was fun. After that we just walked around some more and took a buttload of flower pictures. Tivoli had tons of exotic flowers everywhere that I never thought I would see in real life. They also had a male peacock in the park that kept squawking at everyone. He was cute as heck but suuuuper loud. I think the next ride we went on was the Star Flyer. I had forgotten that I still had a button on my jacket from the Harry Potter tour so when it was our turn to get onto the swings the guy running the ride kept asking me if I was Harry Potter and if I had a wand hidden in my jacket. It was super cutez. I wish we could've gotten a picture of us on the swings since the Star Flyer is one of Tivoli's most popular attractions. Bummer. By this point it was close to six o'clock and we were pretty starving so we went on the Demon one last time then we went to this place, Wagamama, for dinner. Melissa had been to Wagamama's before so she was able to vouch for the food. When we walked into the restaurant they asked us if we spoke Danish, when we said "no" they stamped our hands so the wait staff would know we only spoke English. We thought that was pretty weird/funny. I ordered some kind of tofu dish which wound up tasting like tofu in spaghetti. It was really good but not what you'd expect from an Asian restaurant.

On our way back home we stopped at Paradis ice cream shop since it was literally right on our walk home. I got an oreo milkshake that was very good. We again slept like babies that night which was good since the next day we would be riding bikes again ALL DAY.

Stay tuned!

Copenhagen: Part I

Photo by Melissa

The next day we were up before the dawn and power-walked to the U-baun. I was so ready to get on that plane and leave Berlin in the dust. The difference between Berlin and Copenhagen was like night and day. Our first impression of CPH was "OMG! It's frikkin' adorable!" The houses were all super charming and everyone's yards were full of flowers. On top of that, everyone we encountered was so NICE. I had always heard that Copenhagen was the World's Happiest City and now I know why. This city is so dreamy and we just felt comfortable, relaxed, and safe from the moment we got off the train.

Our adorable little kitchen

I had contacted our Airbnb host a week before I left for Europe just so I could get better directions to the flat (Google Maps directions were too vague) and not only did he give us excellent directions he said that since his family would be on holiday for the duration of our stay that we had access to the entire house! I had only booked for the loft, which had 2 beds and a bathroom and had only paid $66 USD a night so to get to use the entire house for the same price was unbelievable! We had no trouble finding the house...finding the key was a different story. He had hidden it under a wood pile and after a brief freak out we managed to find it. When we walked into the house we could NOT believe our good luck. This was the most adorable house I'd ever seen in real life. It was like an Ikea showroom and it was all ours for 3 glorious days! When I made a pitstop in the loo I noticed the floors were...wait for it--HEATED! I screamed to Melissa, "You gotta get in here!!!" We were so impressed by the Danish and we hadn't even left the house yet!

We took at little snooze since it was only about 10am by then and it was the best nap ever. We woke up so refreshed after the bad luck in Berlin. Since we hadn't really eaten yet we hopped on the train and went in search of food. In the city center there were tons of yummy things but I decided on a giant veggie sandwich. There was a boy working at the sandwich shop who was absolutely precious. I wish we could've taken him with us. After lunch we just walked around a bit and soaked up the atmosphere. Eventually we made our way over to see the Little Mermaid. It was so cute! I loved it so much that I bought a little figurine.

The Little Mermaid

We got back to the apartment around dusk (the walk to the Little Mermaid turned out to be a pretty long walk). On the way back, though, we stopped at a local supermarket and picked up some dinner things. We also bought a chocolate cake and whipped cream that really hit the spot. It was only 30DKK and lasted the whole time we were in Denmark. I think Melissa made risotto that night with mixed vegetables (such an angel). I took a bath that night since we had this lovely giant bathtub that looked awful lonesome. I never take baths at home since I feel bad about wasting water in the desert so this was a nice treat and a great way to end the day. We had bought mud masks while we were in Germany so we used those that night too and had a mini spa night.

Photo by Melissa

The next day we'd be going to a famous Danish tourist attraction, Tivoli, so we turned in pretty early. Melissa had never been to an amusement park so we were pretty excited. I'll tell you all about our day of fun at Tivoli in my next post.

Thanks for reading!