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London was amazing. Pretty sure we both want to move there forever. The bus ride there was the longest of all our trips but it was definitely worth it! To get to the UK we took the Euro tunnel. It was kinda weird. All the cars and buses just drive onto it and park and then the tunnel just like takes you to the UK. I guess its like a train for cars. The whole weekend we had beautiful weather, not the typical London weather we were expecting! There was soooo much to do, two days wasn't nearly enough time to do it all. When we first got there we saw the London Eye, Thames river, Saint Paul's (where princess Diana and Prince Charles were married), Big Ben and Westminster Abby. We walked around a lot, actually we went along the Queen's walk. We came along Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It was awesome, we took a tour of the theatre and it was really breathtaking. It was too bad that there were no shows playing while we were in London because otherwis
e we would have definitely gone to see one! After the Globe, we made our way to the tourist information, they weren't much help to us at all. But we got some pamphlets and made our way to the Subway. This time we weren't able to scam our way on without paying. The English are smarter than that so we had to buy a day pass. Our first stop was to get some famous Fish and chips. We were pretty disappointed with it. Katie was not impressed because it was Cod, eww. So we finished our lunch and walked across the street to Mme. Tussauds wax museum! We were pretty excited. The museum had a bunch of displays. The first one was liek a party of the stars, where all the famous stars were standing around all gussied up and ready to get there pictures taken with us little people. They had a concert room where rockstars were "performing" and you could take your picture performing with them and a politician area where you could met Barack Obama etc. The best part of the museum was the haunted house. They had a haunted dungeon type place where you walk through and they have actual people dressed up and ready to scare you. It was pretty intense. We spent the rest of the day exploring London and soaking it all in. It is an amazing city! We may have walked a little too far because we got a little lost...okay a lot lost. We were in a bit of a panic because we had to meet back at the bus at a certain time to go to our hotel! We were freaking out a little asking people for directions and its a good thing we did because our sense of direction was way off. We finally made it back to the meeting place, a little stressed out and little worried because at first we didn't recognize anybody from our bus. But eventually they started showing up. We soon found out there was no need to be rushing to get back, our bus was an hour late! It wasn't all bad because we got to do a lot of people watching and we got to see some interesting outfits... Everyone was so irritated by the time the bus finally showed and we were all more than ready to get to the hotel. Our hotel was 40 mins outside London which was a bummer because we couldn't explore the night life but it worked out. We got to watch some English T.V. and read some English magazines! We also ordered a pizza. That was an experience on it's own! Katie was nominated to call and order it but the guy had trouble understanding her and then he claimed it was too noisy and that we had to call back. So we did and he wasn't English at all... We didn't unders
tand a word that he said. By the time we placed the order we weren't really sure what we had ordered. It was pretty funny. Anyways, it finally came and we got exactly what we wanted, plus some french fries! Ofter our pig out session we hit the hay! We had to get up early the next morning to go back into the city. Once we got there we grabbed a hot chocolate and took a seat on the bench along the Thames river. We sat there awhile watching the tourists go buy. They totally thought we were locals because we were talking in a very authentic English accent... the tourists were starring at us and loving us. After ahwile we decided to take a bus tour where we could hop on and hop off. It was a great tour because we go tot see Hyde Park, Oxford St., St.Paul's Cathedral, Picadilly circuit, Buckingham palace, Roger Moore's car and other famous people's houses! We also go to experience the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was the coolest thing. There was a huge crowd of people and police everywhere. The bands and the guards came marching in from different directions. It was quite the experience. Afterward we did a lot of shopping and then we took a cruise along the Thames River (we got a free ticket with the bus tour). It was amazing, the cruise dropped us off where we had to meet the bus (which came on time!). We thought we would grab another order of fish and chips and give them a second chance. Mary Elizabeth didn't mind it but Katie, was once again unimpressed. It was Cod and underneath the breaded part there was still the slimy skin of the fish! No thanks! Then we all loaded onto the bus and got ready for the looooooooong ride back to Montbeliard. We want to go back!!!!!!!
Last weekend was pretty awesome! We went on our trip to Prague! It all started last Friday night when we took a night bus! The bus was so cramped and small and it was packed! We were one of the last people to get on the bus so our posse had to be broken up. Mary Elizabeth and Rachel were bus buddies which in hindsight was a bad idea, only because they had the longest legs. They had the pleasure of sitting behind a couple who seemed more like mother and son. Mhairi and Katie were bus buddies and they had to sit in front of the most annoying guys ever! They didn't sleep the whole trip, they read comic books, played cards, talked and oh yeah, kicked Katie's seat all night! So annoying! But one positive thing came from the bus trip! We met
Hamish, a fellow English assistant from New Zealand. He was a pretty funny guy, and he's not too fond of the French especially after he was hit by a car in Marseilles and the driver didn't even get out of his car to apologize! Hamish was lucky to have met us because not only are we the funnest people in Europe but also he had to be told where the trip was to... he thought he was on his way to Poland! We arrived in Prague around 9:30 am and had to leave our things on the bus because we couldn't check into the hotel until that evening. So the four of us girls took the metro to the center and went to the tourist office. We figured out the money exchange... kinda... well we took out 2000 CZ and hoped it wasn't like 1000 euros! Afterward we took some pictures of the Astronomical Clock and went looking for the medieval torture museum. It was pretty much the coolest yet disturbing museum we've ever been too. Every exhibit made us cringe a little inside. We aren't too sure how reliable the information was at the museum because we spotted a few things cited by Wikipedia and Britannica! Afterward we just took in the sights and went looking for a place to get some food! We ended up being persuaded to go to an Irish pub by a random guy who was adve
rtising the pub. It was nice to speak English with people and to feel closer to home. Once we were fed we went on a Nuclear Bunker Tour. We were all really excited and we thought we would learn a lot of history. Except unfortunately it was extremely hard to understand our tour guide, Ivan. His accent was REALLY thick and could barely understand anything he was saying! It seemed like he was in a huge rush and he didn't leave much time for picture taking... he actually said we were like the Chinese and we had no idea what he meant. We thought he was calling Rachel Chinese because the same thing happened to her in Morocco! Turns out the Chinese take a lot of pictures when they go away and that's what he meant... weirdo! He did try to be funny by calling one of the guys in our group a loser because he didn't "pick-up" the night before! The Nuclear bunker was pretty cool, it had a lot of graffiti, a spin table and bar inside. At the end of the tour Ivan gave us all a beer while he showed us pictures and let us try on a gas mask!
We had to walk back to our hotel to get checked in and all that jazz! The hotel was amazing... such a nice change from those dingy hostels! The hotel room was clean, the beds were comfortable, there were complimentary toiletries, oh and the end of the toilet paper was folded into a triangle. We were living the life. We all got ready in our rooms and we met up with Hamish to experience the night life in Prague. We had a few drinks before heading out to a light show called "Aspects of Alice". It was a pretty good show. At intermission Hamish went to the bar to get us a few glasses for the bottle of wine we brought with us. The bartender gave them to him no questions asked but as soon as we poured the wine in the theatre the usher came and told us no glasses allowed in the theatre... What was the point of giving us the glasses then? So we smoothed things over with the usher and got to drink our wine! After the show we went to the bar next door. The bar looked pretty cl
assy but it was also a strip club!!!!!!!!! There was one tiny room with a bar and stripper poles. It was pretty interesting. It was a lot of fun until some dude mistook the two of us for Americans and tried to convince us to give him a dance! Once we got sick of that club we went to a five floor club, the biggest club in central Europe. It was pretty amazing! They had all kinds of dance floors and it felt almost like a warehouse because the stairs were like concrete. We had a lot of fun and learned some new European pick up lines. For example, all a guy has to do is look at you and give you the peace sign... that means "lets dance". Katie and Rachel were ready to get back to our hotel before Mhairi, Mary E, and Hamish so they went on the look out for a cab. They were pretty paranoid about taking a cab because apparently the cabs are run by the mob, according to the internet! The cab driver was a bit sketch because he drove like a maniac and took them to all of these side streets... but no fear... they made it back safe.
The next morning we all ate our complimentary breakfast which was more than just bread and jam! We had bacon, fruit, cereal, juice, everything you can imagine even fried mushrooms! Then we met up with Hamish once again and his roommate Kyle from New York. We took our bags to th
e bus and claimed out seats for the trip home. For the rest of the day we relied on the guys to get us around... we took advantage of not needing a map! We went to the Jewish Quarter, and we took a visit to the Kafka museum, then we went to the Prague castle, took a gander at the tiny Eiffel tower, and checked out the sights on Charles Bridge. Prague is really a beautiful city, there is so much to see! At the end of the day we made our way back to the bus and were shocked to see that someone had the gull to move Mhairi and Katie's bags! They totally stole their seats. They were not impressed... not one bit! So Katie and Mhairi went looking for their bags... and guess where they were... behind the annoying comic book boys from the bus ride there! So every time 
the bus stopped we made a point to go to the back of the bus to give the seat stealers an evil look. The bus ride home was long and interesting. At one of the stops Mary Elizabeth and Hamish thought they would get a bottle of beer for the bus ride home and the bus driver saw them and said it was fine with her because she was buying a six pack! OUR BUS DRIVER WAS DRINKING! So we wore our seat belts the rest of the ride home! After a long drive with 100 000 000 unnecessary stops we finally got home around 5:30 am! It was a great trip!
We've had a pretty eventful couple of weeks since out last entry. Our roommate Anant is missing a lot of celebrations in India and is getting homesick. So last week she decided to re-create "Holi" (pronounced "holy") day in our flat with us. It's a special day where basically everyone where Anant lives has a huge water fight with colours. She was really eager to play it with us but at the time the weather was too cold to be outside throwing water... sooooooooo.... we played inside! I guess we didn't really think it through because the aftermath was a huge clean up. But i
t was worth it, we all had a lot of fun. We used anything and everything to put water in and throw it at each other! Mary Elizabeth, of course, had to take it one step further and throw flour at Mhairi! We did this twice in one day! At night time Mary Elizabeth, Mhairi and Anant went outside (saoking wet) while Katie threw poured water on them from the window... that didn't last long though because the girls got yelled at by a neighbor. The story behind Holi day was that there was once this little boy who was to become prince. His Aunt (also a witch) was very jealous and she wanted to become Queen instead. So she had planned to burn the boy. The aunt had a shawl that could protect her from harm and i believe it was the king who wanted to stop the Aunt from performing her wicked plan but couldn't because of the shawl. The there was a gust of wind which knocked off the shawl and it landed on the little boy, so he was then protected. So on Holi day, everyone has a huge water fight to pay homage to the story and the boy.
So for the February break we decided that we wanted to travel somewhere exciting and more importantly somewhere warmer than france! So we decided on Africa and set out for Morocco. Mhairi, Rachel and I (ME) flew from Lyon into Marrakech and we saw a pretty amazing African sunset. (all ordinary things were now African to us! African airplanes, African toilets, African taxis, we were kind of excited). We took out some dirhams from the cash machine and then headed out of the airport to find our hostel. A man asked if we needed a taxi and told us to wait and he's be right back, so he ran off to get his unmarked car in a far a way parking lot then when he came back we hoped that he wasn't planning on selling us into underground prostitution...no worries we made it alright. So we were dropped off in the Medina, which is the main city surrounded by walls. We were right in middle of the square and what is the largest outdoor market in the world. There was a lot to take in! There were so many shops and the people looked different than what we're used to and obviously we looked very different! There were a lot of hotels and so many streets that we couldn't find out little hidden hostel but luckily this nice boy about our age said he could show us the way no problem. He was really nice and chatting to us and it took about two mins to get to the hostel then we thanked him and walked inside. Well then he freaked out that we needed to pay him for being a guide but we only had big bills so he stayed outside the hostel yelling at us! Sign in for the hostel was intersting...we went into the tea room that had all these tables and colourful cushions and people smoking hookah and having mint tea and our little friend (who we named pepito) who spoke a little french and english to us, signed us in then took us up to our room. There were three beds and it was just like the three bears, a double bed, single bed and like a half a single. So he explained to us that little mhairi would have the small bed, Rachel the single and I could have the double and then he showed me with his hands 'because you're so big' thanks buddy. Then he went over to Rachel who is 100% English and saying 'chinois, china (pronounced sheeeena) and pointing at her eyes! This was hilarious but confusing for Rachel because over the next few days other people yelled 'konichiwa' at her! So far things were sketchy but we decided to check out the market at night and it was pretty obvious that we were tourists. Everyone was yelling at us 'hey spice girls' 'ahh gazelles' 'winner winner chicken dinner!' 'ahh princesses' and to mhairi 'short...but amazing anyway'. So we found a restaurant where we had a delicious shawarma. We got to eat outside, which was a nice change, and we were up on a terrace where we could see out over the market.
The next morning we were woken up before 6 by chanting from the mosque. Its amplified all over the city and was honestly pretty scary in the morning! We went back to sleep for a few hours then had some breakfast in the tea room. We had mint tea (which was available everywhere, with big mint leaves in the glasses) and moroccan bread and honey. The bread was everywhere! It was really cheap too, a loaf was about 10 cents and men pushed around carts full of it all over the city! Ahh and the best fresh orange juice of life was 30 cents! We were excited to get back to the market and do a little shopping. Things were going well until we were looking at some jewelry and a man offered to show us the main square because it had much better quality stuff. So after last night we were hesitant to go with anyone and we said we weren't looking for a quide and he assured us that it was no charge and we weren't far away. So this guy was totally charming and he ended up taking us through a maze of the souks (the alleys behing the square. sounding safe yet?) he did take us to a tannery though which was kind of cool. They were making leather and there were all these guys in holes in the ground stepping on it. It smelled absolutely awful but they gave us some mint to hold under our noses. Our 'friend' then tried to take us to a store where they made carpet but we knew he was going to want money from us so we tried to part ways with him. So he was really sweet and said 'no problem' double kiss blah blah then we went to walk away and his face complety changed! He was so crazy looking and demanded that we give him some money. then he made two fists and cracked his neck (did i mention he was bragging about what a champion boxer he was?) so we had to give him something and he left us along then we were totally lost! So when I say maze, I mean we were walking around for actually over 2 hours and everything looked the same! It was cool to see the people and the diffferent kinds of shops but we were a little concerned. Especially one disgusting street ! Let me try and give you a visual, there were piles of rotten fruit and swarms of flies and baby kittens on the side of the road in a box! it was horrible! then the real creeps came out and were following us and yelling at us 'you want sex?' one guy even got to second base with Mhairi! So that was the worst part of the trip! We found a nice guy from London and he took us home. We stuck with the tourists then and went into see 'Palais du Rahba' an old palace that was really cool. The walls were all really colourful tiles and it had a really nice garden where we took a little break. When we got back in town we got some food up on another terrace. The food was always delicious and really cheap! We got a moroccan salad (which became our favourite food) couscous and for dessert local oranges with cinnamon! We decided to get some henna. That was pretty neat, only we hadn't really mastered the bargaining so I think we payed a bit too much but it was still cheap. One more scary thing happened that day. I bought a big bottle of water and i was carrying it under my arm and this guy came up behind me and tried to knock it out of my arm. So I thought that was weird but he just kept walking but then he came back at me and tried to pull it out again and I actually had to fight with him to keep it. But i'm happy to say that none of us were ever robbed! Morocco was actually a really beautiful place and there was a lot to see outside the medina.
We set off the next morning to see the Atlas Mountains. The drive was exciting because we saw camels and lots of different people. The actualy driving was crazy. It was like in a movie where you're winding up a mountain and the road is on right on the edge, minus a guardrail...When we made it to the mountains a young boy acted as our guide and we got to climb up a little waterfall, just over rocks and flimsy bridges! But when we made it to the top there was a cafe with mint tea! There was even a man in a hole in the mountains carving different souvenirs from the rock. At the bottom there was many different cafes and for most of them you had to walk across the river on an Indiana Jones bridge (my dream, i know) So we spent the afternoon there enjoying the sun. We got to try a tagine, which is a special pottery dish that they cook the food in. We took lots of pictures on the drive home and got a tour of a pottery shop. That night we got some Aladdin cocktails and worked on our bartering skills at the market. I think we were pretty impressive. The next day was the best because we drove out to the Cascades (waterfalls)! It was about a 3 hour drive and there was a lot to see on the way! Apparently our driver had some connections because he set us up with a local boy our age who took us all around the waterfalls! It took a few hours and we got to see it from all angles. We started at the top then he took us through a field of olive trees where it was actually raining olives on us! can't complain about that. We walked right down where there used to be water from the falls and took a boat across the bottom an walked back up to the top. Our guide (Samir) told us all about his family and showed us a typical Berber mud house and we saw monkeys! and he even told us terrible jokes! Anyway it was pretty exciting but the best was still to come. We got quite the hookup when we got back to the top and we got to have our lunch in the VIP area! We ate outback of the restaurant at our own table overlooking the falls! and we had more moroccan salad! good day! And of course Samir then professed his love to Mhairi (she picks up a boy/stalked everywhere we go!) On our last day in Marrakech we just wanted to enjoy the sun but it wasn't worst staying the market because of all the comments so we found this tour bus that had an open roof so we got up there away from the locals. We got to see some more of the city and the crazy driving! I dont think there are any rules to the road! There are buses, mopeds, bikes, horses, people pulling carts on the road just going everywhere and kids just darting inbetween! Ah and a lot of the men wore these, well i'm not sure what they're called but, dresses that were long sleeved and to the floor with pointed hoods! It looked like the KKK was walking around. So we got to enjoy some more camels and palm trees. We had developed a little relationship with our hostel worker friend Pepito so we asked if we could get a picture with him. He said he was busy and he'd come up to our room later. So later we were sitting on the bed when the door busts open and pepito sprawls out on the bed with us. We all thought he was falling for Rachel AKA Sheena but he professed his love for me because he 'never sees girls like me in Morocco' oh sweet pepito. but then he started stroking my hair and telling me about my 'big hair, big lips etc.' thanks little friend. On our very last day we got the train to Casablanca! how romatic! It was about 3 hours and the train cost less than 10 dollars! I watched the movie before we left but the city didn't quite meet my expectations...it was so industrial and not really nice at all but I'm glad that I can say I was there. We had a horrible time at the airport with flight delays but we finally made it back to Lyon airport where we spent a freezing night waiting for our morning train. We slept in a booth in a cafe! I felt like such a homeless person! Plus it was Valentines day, so we spooned ahah romantical. So even though the trip started off a little bit sketch, we had some amazing times and shared a lot of laughs!
I'll post the pictures in the link.
-Papa Bear
Holidays kicked off again on friday, and after 5 weeks we felt like we deserved a break! It was a special day at Lycee Armand Peugeot (Mary Elizabeth's school). The students organized a carnivale so many of them came to school in costumes. It was like a make up for halloween, but it turned out to maybe be even be
tter. There were some really good costumes like two boys who did a great job dressing up as Fiona and Shrek. They got a little too into character and even started kissing... The teachers got in on the fun too and one dressed up like a cheetah or something that is from a french cartoon. I didn't really get it but he drove a scooter around all day, like in circles around the teachers room, so it was pretty good. The last 2 periods of the day were cancelled to have bit of a parade for all the costumes. At 5:30 the dance started and Beccy and I went in to 'chaperon'. She dressed up as a vampire and I got the opportunity to reuse my purple afro from Barfly to be a hippy. Anyway i
t ended up being a pretty hilarious night. We got to do a lot of dancing, however the music was a bit questionable. French techno is THE worst. Whenever I thought I finally recognized a song it would turn out to be like a french lyric remix. Beccy and I even tried to request some Backstreet Boys to get the party going and the "DJ's" didn't even know what we were talking about. I feel they need to go back to DJ school. Things got a little crazy when they put on some tom jones and all of a sudden our students were party boying us! That quickly ended when everyone noticed that Mario and Luigi, who had been dancing up on some chairs, didn't have their overalls on anymore! One of my students even said to me that th
is was just like an American movie! Other than the nudity it was a pretty wholesome night. Carnivale definitely beat any high school dance that I ever went to because it was fully catered. It was pretty impressive. The sandwich course had all these different kinds of sandwiches that were in loaves of bread that were all sea themed! Like you could lift up the turtles bread shell to get something to eat!
Yesterday
Mhairi and I also decided that we have been in France too long without trying any escargot. So we went to the shop to see what we could find. We didn't have too much luck and ended up buying this frozen stuff that is 
supposed to be cooked in the oven, and well we don't have an oven, so we made due with a frying pan. So it was vegetables and snails in a curry sauce, obviously delicious...perhaps frogs legs will be better?
We have to go and pack because we are off to Morocco tomorrow to get a little African sun. Spring Break 2010 y'all!
So after the new year we settled back into school and montbeliard. Travelling was put on hold because we were totally out of cash money. Although we did get to take one magical trip to spare oom where we constructed a pretty sweet fort to watch scary movies in. So that was a pretty wild saturday night! I've heard that forts are even being constructed in Saint Johns in honour of this fort! Beccys bf, Marcus, was up for another week for her birthday. We took advantage of this learning opportunity as well to learn some dirty words in german. For Beccy's birthday we decorated the apartment and even constructed a pinata for another wild evening. And the month isn't even over yet people!
Last weekend we got to go to Biel Bienne Switzerland for a little skiing and a lot of chocolate! We were off to a bit of a rough start when little Mhairi forgot her passport but we all made it within a few hours. we had to take 3 different trains although we were only about 2 hours away. So we got to do a little exploring on our stopovers. we checked out a fancy beer store that had a lot of canadian beer and even some Simpsons style 'Duff' beer. I even bought a legit swis
s army knife! We got a few different kinds of chocolate bars to try and headed out to our hostel. we took a cab and were expecting to go up to this cute little wooden cabin in the hills, but we turned into an industrial park and that was the end of the line. The people in town spoke a mix of french, german and english so communication was sometimes a bit of an issue, until we decided on a language (we're pretty pro at the german now....) we were a little late to do any skiing so we dec
ided to climb up some mountains. We took this cool lift right up a mountain, it was almost like a rollercoaster but just going up! it was pretty impressive so we were standing ona bench to get a view of the city and when we got to the top we got a pretty good scolding for that! the man working there yelled at us for getting the bench 'dirty' then made us wipe it off with our hands! anyway after we got rid of that little jerk we continu
ed our snowy walk up the mountain. we got a really cool view of the city at night and made our way up to a little restaurant called 'fin du monde' which was basically a woman's kitchen, she even came out to shake everyones hand. we had the best hot chocolate ever and then another round! When we got back we found out that our hostel had its own brewery so we had to try that out too. all part of the experience.
The next morning we set out to do some skiing! We took a 50 min train ride through the mountains then took a bus up the hill on a winding road. it was pretty exciting! the ski hill has an elevation of 1500m. look out Brookvale. so we got fitted for some rental skis then I decided the girls were good to go. Mhairi and Rachel had never been before and in hindsight, the could have used a little more practice...so i got on the lift then they went behind me, for about 5 seconds then they were on the ground. the got on again and fell off pretty close to the top so that's where our descent began. well by the time we got to the bottom of the hill again, let's just say that it was over TWO hours later! Rachel was beat and headed into the lodge, Mhairi went down one more time and banged up her shoulder. so i went down a few more times then we headed into the lodge for some much needed hot chocolate. That night and the next morning we did some touring around town and found out that CO-OPs are all the rage in switzerland! ahh and we had the best breakfast ever was of this braided loaf of warm bread and 'heidi' brand chocolate milk! 
As you know, we have developed a certain fondess for crepes, so to save a little chedda and have a little fun, we decided to make some of our own. Well, we had some wine while one of our students cooked them for us. However, we soon caught on and were flipping them all over the place. We had quite a spread and I think we may have a new tra
dition for tuesday, seeing as how Wine Tuesday didn't work out for us!i'll add some extra pictures in the link on the side.also grace and monica! how does thai wedding cake compare to confed center wedding cake?
So from Berlin we took the night train into Paris. Not a big deal? It was definitely more of an adventure than we had imagined! We were in this little room that had 6 seats, like 3 facing 3 with about a foot in between. We were ok because it was only us two and this little boring Indian guy but things changed when we met Mr. Mongolia. He was actually humongous and came into our little car huffing and puffing, with a ton of luggage, when he finally got settled (half on Mary Elizabeth) he offered around some beers, so he was ok. The Indian man kept trying to make conversation with him but there was a definite languate barrier so he kept asking us for french words and we were very into watching 'Hair" at that point. So once we picked up two more girls things were much less comfortable, but Mr. Mongolia knew what was up so he just th
rew his coat over his face and started snoring (and moaning) away.
So we got into Paris about 9 in the morning and found out hotel, which was near Montmartre. So we couldn't check in until 3 so we set off to see some sights. So the metro was really great for getting around and we really took it a lot that first day. We went to see Cimetiere Pere Lachaise, which is an enormous graveyard where people like Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are burried. Then we stopped off at "Les Halles" for some shopping and sight seeing. Katie had this girl come up to her with a clipboard to make a donation for some sort of hard of hearing foundation. Then like two more girls swooped down on Mary Elizabeth and they were ju
st pointing to the sheet and acting like they were deaf. So anyway we didn't give them anything then we noticed that they were everywhere! they were even talking to each other (if you can imagine). So Mary Elizabeth tried to trick them by yelling that she'd give them money, but they didn't fall for it, little jerks... so then we took the subway looking for Notre Dame. We ended up walking along the Seine river just checking out some shops and stuff. It was like Paris from a movie. perfect. So we went back to check into the hotel and prepare a little balloon surprise for Mhairi's birthday because she was arriving that night from Scotland.
The next day we set out on a walking tour. Our tour guide Colin, or we call him Col, was pretty entertaining and even did some re enactments during the tour. impressive stuff. So we basically saw all the touristly highlights; Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomph, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and much more. The tour was much better than just going on our own because we learned a lot of interesting tidbits. After the tour we headed over to The Moose, the canadian bar and we had some pricey poutine and moosehead. It was kind of a dive but alright because they had like strong man competitions on the 
tv! So that night we went on a pubcrawl that the walking tour people put on. So we started off in the Latin Quarter, which is mainly students. So we got to go to an Irish pub, salsa club (which had some sketchy guys in it, if you can imagine) and then we all took the metro to this 
actually fancy club and we got ushered right to the basement! haha but that was the best part of the night because we really bonded on the metro with all our new Australian friends so we just danced the night away. And we certainly learned some fancy french dance moves too!
The next morning, well afternoon we went up to Monmartre to see Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge. It was such a busy area! There were guys in the street doing that whole 'which cup is it under gag' and the streets were like creperie, sex shop, creperie, sex shop! So going up to Sacre Coeur we were like swarmed once again by as they called themselves 'artists of sacre coeur' and they wanted to see us some string...well katie got caught up and they ended up making a bracelet for her for the low low price of 5 euros. what a steal. We went back to the louvre but the line was extra long so he got a crepe and headed back to the hotel. In the evening we headed into the eiffel tower to check it out at night! It was pretty amazing! There were really 
aggressive people trying to get us to buy little eiffel tower keychains and even those glasses with the mustache attached (tempting...) So we waited in line to take the lift up the tower. It was raining and freezing but still so exciting! We got an awesome view of the city of lights and we even got to watch the light show while we were on the tower! The highlight of the night was yet to come! Taking the metro home katie met a new man! She really got to know him...
On the 31st we had to move hotels and Katie headed back to Montbeliard. Our hotel room was so cute, even though we didn't have a bathroom or shower! but we were out on a balcony and one of those doors where you can opeh just the top! So Mhairi and I spent most of the day in the Louvre. There were so many people! We caught ourselves just people watching, it was crazy! The people in line to take a picture of th mona lisa was out of control! So we also went to check out the inside of Notre Dame. The line was actually crazy so we casually walked almost to the front and got in line with some Asian tourists who were really into picture taking. We were lucky because a man and woman butted right after us and they got booed! So we headed back to our little room to get ready for new ye
ars! We need to get a travel corkscrew! We ended up with wine that was packaged like juice boxes, you can imagine how delicious that was and we still had some german champagne. So we went back to the Latin Quarter to the Irish pub and then we were either going to go to the eiffel tower or back to Montmartre. So we made some friends (australian of course) in the pub and we all headed down to Champs Elysees where we had a view of the Eiffel Tower at midnight. It was such a hilarious night! One of our french friends even took us to his kebab shop and they guy behind the counter gave us free pop! We met a lot of crazy people, one in particular is a guy that followed us off the subway (that should have been the first hint eh?) but he is in love with mhairi! After Champs Elysees we went back to the pub and he couldn't get in with his badditude so he waited outside for Mhairi calling her constantly. So when it was finally time to leave Mhairi had to disguise herself in my coat and luckily for her i also had a pink beret! so we walked around town for a bit looking for a falafel then a cab and when neither could be found we got some 6 euro tea and water! then we realized that the metro was starting up again so we raced back to the hotel got our bags and ran to the train station and made it for our 7:11am train back to Montbeliard. Then we promptly fell asleep. And then we woke up to 48 missed calls from Mhairi's #1 fan! So Paris was a huge success!
Hallo! Sorry it's been awhile but we were too busy exploring Europe...A tough life. As soon as we were done school before the break Sabrina, the German Assistant at Katie's school, and her boyfriend, Phillip, picked us up and we were off to Allemagne (Germany). The car ride to Freibourg was entertaining to say the least. Philip speaks pretty good English and was listening to some sweet tunes. We were exposed to some German rap but also we heard a lot of English rap, well mostly Ice Cube..."Hello, i started this gangsta sh**..." and then he politely asked if he could "pump up the volume", it was a bumpin trip... all we needed were some shocks for the tires Holla! We stayed the night at Sabrina's house in Freibourg because the full trip to Berlin would be a 9 hour drive. So that night we explored the town and went to the Christmas market, yes there are Christmas markets everywhere in Europe! It was really romantical. We went on a swan/swing ride ( like the swings at Crystal Palace) where we were both covered up with a nice velvet blanket and then we both tried our first German Sausage... YUM! We headed back to Sabrina's (who was really sick so she went straight to bed) and got some sleep for our long journey to Berlin the next morning.
The trip to Berlin was reallllllllyyyy long and by the end of it we knew all the lyrics to all ice cube songs! We met Billy, Mary Elizabeth's cousin at the S-bahn (subway) and he took us to his humble abode to see his kids (Lily and Liam) and wife (Monica). We didn't actually stay at his house seeing as Monica's parents were staying there. We stayed a few blocks away at their friend's house Tamara. Mary E and I shared the guest room and a bed, well a mattress. The bed frame broke literally 3 times the first night there. So the next night we just pulled the mattress onto the floor and in the morning before Tamara could see we put the mattress back on the be
d. It was quite a process every morning. The first few days we spent exploring the city. Berlin is huge and the transportation there is awesome. It would have been really confusing if it wasn't for Billy and his sweet google maps. He did a lot of cutting and glueing for us, it was much appreciated. Anyways we made our way to Check point Charlie, Brandenbuger Tor, the German Parliament, Sony Centre and the Jewish holocaust memorial. It was a really long day but pretty entertaining. We saw some interesting fashions and al there was this one lady who was asking everyone for money! It was sooo frusterating because she must have asked up 100 000 000 000 0001 times if we spoke English and everytime we acted as though we didn't, get the point lady! In germany they celebrate Christmas morning Christmas Eve. So we helped Lily decorate the tree before we all sat down to a big dinner, of Fish and veggies but as we all know Katie has small allergy to fish, and so she had BBQed Pork Chops. It was a long supper because right in the middle they stopped and opened presents. Lily went with Billy to deliver presents and when she came back there were all these presents under the tree for her. She was so excited. She 
opened all the presents and the present from us was opened first. Before she even knew what it was she claimed it to be "What I've always wanted". It was really cute! Also Billy and Monica gave us a little souvenir from Berlin, two bags. Also Mary Elizabeth was pumped for her little package from home. So she was opening it and she pulled out a bib for Liam, a puppet for Lilly, Christmas napkins for the Billy and finally a travel sized scrabble game for Mary Elizabeth (she's not a fan of regular scrabble) It's what she's always wanted!! So on Christmas day we headed back over to billy's for yummy Christmas dinner. Monica's parents are Romanian so we didn't really have a traditional german christmas meal, but a romanian one. We had Duck, bread ball-thingy's and red cabbage. Katie was not a fan of the duck, but she did try it. Also she couldn't handle the cabbage... so somehow it ended up on the napkin beside her... unfortunatley Katie then had to go to the Bathroom. Then Christmas night we headed into town and saw the movie Avatar in 3D. The next night we went to a BURLESQUE SHOW. It was really classy, when we got there they had a guy taking pictures like a paparrazzi and then he sold the pictures at intermission. It has to be said that Mary Elizabeth fit right in at the Burlesque show because she ordered a vermouth on the rocks... like a classy old man. Then we went to a club called 40 seconds. It was ont eh 6th flook of a building and had a balcony for the smokers that looked over the entire city. It was really classy. The next day Billy took us on a tour of the City. He took us to see part of the old Berlin Wall which was pretty neat and he also took us to a quaint little cafe where we had waffles and hot chocolate. The cafe had really old furniture that didn't really match but gave the place character. He also took us to the Ghetto part of Berlin. We wouldn't have been able to see this much of Berlin without him! Although he really wants us to come back in the summer because there's a lot more to do in the summertime. Main points of Berlin:- Buddy Bears! They are everywhere. They are these big bears all over the city. There was an exhibition of Buddy Bears a few years ago. There's a bear that represents every country and they are suppose to represent the togetherness of the world. Anyways they were suppsose to only be around for a the exhibition but they decided to keep them up!
- Berliner Kindle. This is a beer that is popular in Berlin. It's basically beer with syrup in it, you can either get raspberry syrup or some sort of green syrup. It's not too shabby.
- Laundry. At Tamara's we asked to do some laundry and she had no problem with it. She doesn't have a ryer which was sort of a bummer because we haven't had the luxury of a dryer in forever... but anyways we were excited about the washing machine, our clothes would actually feel clean... well the washing machine took 2 whole hours!!!! Man, we couldn't believe it!
- Caroline. She's Tamara's little girl and she is adorable. She doesn't speak English so when we were babysitting we just kinda made faces at her and chased her around. And the one time Katie sat on her was awkward because she cried. But she was quickly forgiven.
- Liam and Lily, Billy's kids! Liam is only 3 months but adorable! He loved Mary Elizabeth because he fell right asleep in her arms! And Lily, it took her awhile to arm up to us but she is so sweet. She loved playing Mary And Joseph after going to church and seeing the skit put on by the kids Christmas Eve. She would come up to us asking if there was any room for her because she has a baby on the way! Really funny!
That was our trip to Berlin in a nutshell! It is an amazing city but we had to make our way to La Paris! TCHUSS
e we would have definitely gone to see one! After the Globe, we made our way to the tourist information, they weren't much help to us at all. But we got some pamphlets and made our way to the Subway. This time we weren't able to scam our way on without paying. The English are smarter than that so we had to buy a day pass. Our first stop was to get some famous Fish and chips. We were pretty disappointed with it. Katie was not impressed because it was Cod, eww. So we finished our lunch and walked across the street to Mme. Tussauds wax museum! We were pretty excited. The museum had a bunch of displays. The first one was liek a party of the stars, where all the famous stars were standing around all gussied up and ready to get there pictures taken with us little people. They had a concert room where rockstars were "performing" and you could take your picture performing with them and a politician area where you could met Barack Obama etc. The best part of the museum was the haunted house. They had a haunted dungeon type place where you walk through and they have actual people dressed up and ready to scare you. It was pretty intense. 
tand a word that he said. By the time we placed the order we weren't really sure what we had ordered. It was pretty funny. Anyways, it finally came and we got exactly what we wanted, plus some french fries! Ofter our pig out session we hit the hay!
