Hey loves!!! Did you read my 4th installment of the Intuitve Eating series? Be sure to check it out if you haven't. I am very passionate about this information and want it to reach as many people as possible. 🙂 Now, time for another fun Flashback Friday post. 😀 Last week, I told you about my backpacking through Europe college graduation trip and all about how we kicked things off in London. Now, I will take you to our next destination. Paris! Or, Par-ee as the French say. 😉

We started our trip by taking the Chunnel from London. What a cool ride that was! Train travel is under-rated. It is a very peaceful way to travel. I loved it!

Eurostar Train

[Source]

The night we arrived to Paris, we went on a dinner boat ride along the Seine River. It was nice to see many of the sights we were excited to see.

We also walked around and just discover many little quaint areas in downtown Paris.

The following morning, we took a short trip to Versailles. Who knew ornate and gaudy could be so beautiful?

But what was even more beautiful? The gardens of Versailles. We had such a good time walking around such gorgeous scenery.

We even enjoyed some lunch Europe style by grabbing a baguette, fresh bread, and gourmet cheese to munch on a park bench. It was fabulous. But we couldn't stay for long, since we wanted to visit two other must sees. The Arc di Triomphe after walking along Champs-Elysees. Notre Dame, where I couldn't help but be in awe of the beauty and take a moment to praise God. And the Louvre, where there is just too much to see and take it all in adequately. Amazing!

Arc Di Triomphe

Notre Dame Outside

Beautiful Stained Glass

At the Louvre

Checking out the Art - Venus di Milo

After all of that we were done for the day. We saved the Eiffel Tower for our last day there. It was cool and had some spectacular views up top, but I think Paris has so much more to offer than the Eiffel Tower.

top of tower

the view

Like the food! Hitting up a cozy French cafe was probably one of THE best moments of the trip. My tastebuds have rarely been that satisfied.

Chicken Baguette + Two Pastries = Perfect Shared Meal

mmmmm.....

I have to say that Paris surprised me. I expected it to be one of my least favorite stops on the trip, but it became (and stayed) a favorite. The French people are not near as rude as they are made out to be. The city is beautiful with lots of gorgeous parks and gardens, which was very different than the iron-clad city I pictured. And so much history and art topped it all off.

Happy Friday to all my wonderful friends! Once again, I am going to go for a Flashback Friday post. I think most of you enjoy reading those over the "fun facts" and they are more fun for me to come up with and write. It works out nicely. 🙂

About a month ago, Peter found this in one of our closets.

It completely motivated me to do some flashbacks of what is written in those leather bound covers. What is it? None other than my personal journal from the almost 2 months I spent backpacking through Europe!

total goofball even back then

It may be cliche, but people do it for a reason. It can't be beat. That was one of the BEST vacations of my life. One of the pluses of getting hit by a car as a pedestrian and having lawsuit money to help pay for college + summer before working full time. 😉 I absolutely cannot wait to go back, but I know that won't be for a long while so the flashbacks will suffice. Time to get packing!

We started our Europe trip in London because we were seeing some of my friend's family for her cousin's high school graduation from a boarding school there.

Since we started the trip around familiar people, it didn't seem REAL that we were in England. Even after hitting up Windsor Castle with her family it wasn't quite real I was in another country.

Maybe seeing the guards helped a little bit. 😉

Eventually, we left her family to start the true backpacking experience and head to our first stay at a hostel. Haha. I think every place we went has an interesting hostel story. This one was sharing a room with a chick that laughed and talked to herself...all.night.long! After checking in first thing that morning, we set out to explore downtown London. We visited Buckingham Palace and showed up just in time to witness the changing of the guard. All that pomp and circumstance was pretty interesting.

We also made sure to walk around for the traditional sight seeing hot spots.

Tower Bridge

London Eye

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

There is something surreal about seeing things you had previously only seen in pictures. I remember both of us watching all of the London episodes of Friends before we left. We ended the first day crashing in our bunk beds. That first day, we walked over 16 miles! You will hurt in places you never knew after doing that suddenly. All of you runners who run that much at once...you're crazy. And I say that with the utmost of admiration. 😉

The next days we continued with the sight seeing to things like Hyde Park and the Tate Modern, as well as (window) shopping in Harrod's and (really) shopping in H&M. This was before they were common here in the States, so that was like heaven. We also got some of the "must-have" shots in London. Like this one for example.

We also took a trip down the Thymes River to head into Greenwich.

The Maritime Museum and Meridian Line are located there, along with a cute little town. I did two things I had never done before in Greenwich.

Stood in Two Timezones at Once

Ate Fish & Chips

The homesickness started kicking in towards the last of our London days. It was more just a surprise missing of people. And for me, the biggest surprise was missing Peter. We had only been dating for a month before I left, but I missed that boy like no other. We say my trip helped solidify our feelings and speed the remainder of our relationship along (engaged 7 months in, married 6 months later, etc). Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Even with not even an entire week, I had already experienced a more exciting vacation than I could have imagined. And it only got much, much better. Stay tuned for future Flashback Fridays to read on about my trip. 🙂

• Where is the best place you have ever traveled? Mine = Barcelona!!!
• Where are you dying to go? Australia or Greece!