Europe - Spring Break 2011!

Our Saints in Paris - Kelsey, Christina, Nicole, Heather, Victoria, Sami, and Jacob

By Christina Shepard

The golden gate of Versailles gleamed in the sunlight as if it were welcoming the St. John Lutheran group to Europe. It was the first day of our trip to Europe and all nine of us seemed to be in a blend between excitement and exhaustion- because of the six hours that we had lost from the time change. The first place we were planning to see was Versailles near Paris, France- a gigantic palace that Louis XIV built for himself. It was a beautiful day outside until we went outside to see the gardens, which was when a light rain started. After we settled in our hotel rooms in Paris, we went out to have a delicious Italian dinner with Helena, our wonderful tour guide. Helena grew up in Spain, moved to England for ten years to study the English language, and then moved to France to study the French language and has been there for eleven years. She was an amazing tour guide who knew the answer to almost every question we asked. Without her, the trip wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.

The next few days in Paris consisted of miles of walking, gallons of rain, and overly full stomachs. We went to the Sacre Coeur, Montmarte, the Eiffel tour, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Arch de Triumph. Just to name a few of the places that we ate- we ate at a small Italian restaurant, a small café near our hotel and a very Parisian café near the Eiffel tower. The days in Paris flew buy and we were soon on our way to Avignon, France.

On our way to Avignon, we stopped in two small towns- Aigues Mortes and Ales, both quaint and beautiful towns in the countryside of France. When we were on the outskirts of Avignon, we had a hectic ride on horses in the pelting rain. It may have been crazy, but it was certainly an amazing experience. Avignon is a small college town in the Southern parts of France. The town is known for the fact that it was the home to seven French Catholic Popes in the early 1300’s. Though it was raining the entire time that we were there, we still had a magnificent time in Avignon.

The morning after our first and only night in Avignon we woke up early and started the 4 hour drive to Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona is a large city on the coast of Spain. We saw most of Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona- including the Casa, the Cascada Fountain, the Casa Mila, Park Guell, and Sagrada Familia. We also went to a few of the museums in Barcelona, like the Picasso museum and the chocolate museum. We went on a bike tour in Barcelona where we saw all of the main sites in the city. On the last night we all were given the chance to make our own Paella with chefs in a wonderful restaurant near the coast- the Paella ended up being delicious. That was also when we celebrated Nicole’s birthday! Our waitress brought out cake with a candle and we all got to try two different kinds of cake. We all had a fantastic time and will certainly never forget a moment of our trip to Europe.

For more pictures: Saints in Europe, Spring Break 2011

**Ms. Greta Gieseke, Spanish Instructor, coordinated the trip for the seven students who participated in this Spring Break adventure.