Belgium to Switzerland... with a little Paris

Sorry we left everyone hanging for so long... We have been on the move like you wouldn't believe. So after our big late night fiasco in London, we some how woke up early, like 8:30, because we knew we had to make to the chunels departing station to see if we had any chance of getting to Paris. When we got there we found it was going to cost us about 1000 dolllars to get to Paris within the next two days... don't worry, we turned it down. However, he did mention we could book a 5 o'clock train to brussels that day for about 60 bucs. We shouted in celebration, oh yeah were going to brussels. After that we quickly asked, wait, what country is Brussels in. He replied Belgium, and we instantly got excited for waffles, beer, and chocolate. So we booked the train, saw the rest of the main sites in London, and departed for Brussels at 5.

We arrived in Bussels around 10 pm, with no hostel or hotel booked, and no idea where to go in brussels. To make the situation even better, we couldn't read any of the street signs, and had a horrible map. While wondering the streets, we met another american kid who was in the same perdicament as us. So we all decided to find a hostel or hotel together. After walking the streets for an hour and finding out all hostels were booked, we got a room at the Manhattan Brussels Hotel for 30 a piece. Fun Fact: the hotel had the oldest elevator known to man. After settling in we thought about it, and we didn't even know the kids name that we were giong to be sleeping with that night... yes, only one bed in the room for the three of us. After finally introducing ourselves we grabbed kabobs and wondered the streets for hours looking for some sort of nightlife... which we couldn't find. Then John, our american roomate, saw the peek of a church that was lit, and before we were about to head home he said we should check it out. Well, it just so happend that that church was in a piazza that was lit and one of the most beautiful places we had ever seen. And to make things even better, the hopping nightlife was right around the corner... which we were to exausted to acutally particpate in so we had a few beers at a corner bar there and enjoyed the brussels night life. Plus we had to be up at 630 the next morning to get to the station and see if we could get to Paris.

We awoke on time the next morning, said goodbye to John, and went to the station. At the station we found out we wouldn't be able to get the direct train to Paris, so we were going to have to take 4 different trains to get there... we were up for the challenge. We left Brussels around 720 and had to connnect at 4 different stations throughout France... but we made it... Childsplay.

We booked into our hotel in Paris around 3 pm, and settled in. After learning our lessons from previous cities, we went right to the train station to book for Barcelona the next night. However, again, as usual, the night train to Barcelona was booked, even for the next 3 days... so we had a quick decision to make. There was nothing even close to Barcelona we could go to, so we decided to skip barcelona and go to Switerland early, which there were trains for the next day... thank god. To celebrate, we went to the Luxemburg gardens, layed out, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Also to celebrate we decided to try for a nice french dinner. So we got dressed up for eachother and went to find a restaraunt. While looking we met some other americans from from LSU and Virgina Tech looking for a place to eat. Fun Fact: Caitlin, a Macie Barnes from Virginia Tech said she either knew or has heard of you. We tagged along for a creppe dinner with bottles of wine, and ended up at the Eiffel Tower for the late night light show. We had live music playing, plenty of wine and champagne, and a solid group of people looking to have a good time. Although the date with just the two of us would have been very nice, it was great to meet up with others from the states and to sing to some familiar tunes. All in all, it turned out to be an unforgettable night by that famous tower.

We finally got some decent sleep and woke up around 10 to check out of the hotel and see the sites of Paris. The sites were breathtaking, we got plenty of pics, and the weather was perfect once again. After an exhausting walk from the Arch de Triomphe to Notre Dame we finally made it to the train station to catch our 5 oclock train to the land of Switzerland. The views fromt the train were unbelieivable and we made it to Interlaken safely around 11 at night. It took us about an hour to find our hostel, which was only about 15 minutes from the train station... oops. Special shout out to the 3 people who gave us bad directions in the smallest town know to man. But we are here, safe, enjoying Swiss beers, and updating the blog that we have been slacking on lately... sorry, we are trying our best, and will hopefully add some pictures very soon.

Aufederzein, and Swatch out for our next post!

XOXOXO. Chad and Shane