Traveling

A couple of years ago I traveled to Europe with a one of my friends from school. I flew to Paris, went to the hotel to leave my luggage and then took a cab to pick her up at the Eastern train station. It was so emotional to see her! We had been in contact but I hadn't seen her for more than 20 years!

We then went to the hotel to leave her suitcases and, afterwards, we started going around the city of lights.

We first went to the Place de la Concorde and the Place Vendome. We visited some of the most expensive stores there, among which was Christian Dior and Cartier which are beautiful, sophisticated and certainly, extremely expensive.

We then visited the Arch of Triumph where you can find the honorable tomb of the unknown soldier and, where it reads: Here lies a soldier who died for the homeland.

That day we also went to the Champs Elysees, and then to the Louvre Museum.

There is so much to see in Paris that our days were full of activities.

On Sunday, we had to go to Normandy. where I had a personal mission. I had promised my deceased husband I was going to throw part of his ashes there. The ashes were in a music box from The Wizard of Oz, my husband's favorite movie. The place was crowded and, therefore, I had to wait for my friend's signal, meaning that nobody was around, to do my job. When that happened, I threw the box to the sea. My feelings were torn, I knew I had to do it, but it was very tough, considering that my husband had passed away only three months before.

We could see Omaha Beach from where the Allies invaded Germany on June 6, 1944 -D-Day. We were also able to visit the museum, which has authentic weapons, uniforms and pictures from the Second World War. It was very touching for me as my husband had always wanted to go to Normandy and also, because WWII was one of his favorite History subjects.

We went back to Paris and kept on visiting the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was decapitated by a guillotine that is still in that place. The Palais de la Justice also has a chapel which has gorgeous concave ceilings painted with the Fleur de Lis, la Sainte-Chapelle. The Fleur de Lis was Louis XVI's favorite flower and, it is the symbol of France.

We ended up walking for almost 12 hours a day, but it was more than worthy.

We then made our way to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame, particularly the three rose windows, are among the most famous features of the cathedral. It's absolutely breathtaking!

I was devastated when I later heard it had burned and I really hope they can restore it to what it used to be, a symbol of elegance and history.

From there, we walked around the Latin Quarter or, Saint Germain-des-Prés, which is close to Notre Dame and has awesome cafes where you can spend a great time having French pastries, which are delicious.

We went to the Eiffel Tower from which you can see the city of Paris and the University of La Sorbonne, among others. We felt so small up there! We had to wait for three hours in order to go up the tour!

We then made a trip to Montmartre where there is an amazing cathedral called Sacred Heart. That neighborhood is absolutely incredible! It has cobble stone streets, beautiful stores, freelance artists and wonderful restaurants. We visited the Moulin Rouge (Red Mill), which is known due to Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec, who was a French painter famous for his provocative, enticing paintings.

We stopped by the Impressionists' museums and Rodin's. Then we passed Saint Sulpice, which is a church distinguished by its unbelievable statues.

The Impressionists are my favorite artists, actually, I paint art and they inspire me, particularly, Monet and Van Gogh.

Regrettably, the trip to Paris was too short. We were there for 10 days and never stopped walking around visiting places, having delicious baguette sandwiches and cruising along the Seine river. We saw a lot; however, we should go back to check up more sites. It was an exciting trip and we were happy most of the time.

Then, we would go to Frankfurt, Germany, where my friend lives.

Frankfurt is absolutely gorgeous, it has a lot of flowers and gardens all over. From there, we went to Berlin...

That was awfully tough for me, there are some sites where you feel you are in the middle of WWII. The barracks, the Topography of Horrors museum, the sites destroyed by the Allies' bombs and Check Point Charlie, place where the Allies invaded Berlin.

I couldn't stop thinking about my husband and I started to cry in the street. My friend told me he was seeing everything through my eyes, but it was too emotional. I just wanted to get out of there.

Then, we would stop at Mainz. Mainz is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Most of the city is upstream of the Rhine before it flows west.

The river, the walls of the buildings painted with art, the restaurant where we went to celebrate my friend's husband's birthday, the narrow streets and the magic stores make Mainz totally breathtaking!

We went back to Frankfurt and then decided to visit Munich. Munich is very picturesque, they have these beer bars where they have long tables at which people sit to drink jugs of beer. They are so drunk! For me, the most beautiful site in Munich was the clock of the Municipality. The clock has small figurines that go around when it's time. They are cute and magic at the same time.

We decided to stop by a tavern there. It was full of people and, at that time, I didn't speak German. People were dancing and suddenly, one of the German guys invited me to dance what it sounded like a polka. He was extremely tall and, of course, he was drunk. We danced for a while and then I let him know that I was really hot, so, we stopped.

When we were leaving the tavern, he came to me, held my hands and said: "Auf Wiedersehen". I knew what it meant but he wouldn't let go and my friends started to laugh saying: "Come on, we have to go". I think he said "Auf Wiedersehen" to me like six times and, finally, I was able to go.
It was so funny!