Jerrie's Travels

Blog Felony!

Hello my dear friends and family,

I know it has been an incredibly long time since i wrote and for that i am really sorry... but it has really come to kick me in the but... because now its going to take me forever to update you all.
let me tell you. I live an amazing, beautiful, and VERY busy life.
So lets travel back in time.
ALL the way back to Montreux / chateau de Chillon / Lausanne.

Jane, Katie, Sarah and I decided to do a bit of travelling april 21st. It was a beautiful day so we decided to head to the french side of switzerland! The main reason we were going was because Jane really wanted to check out this Chocolate Factory that we didnt even end up going to. Something about it in april was special... but then Jane realized that 20 minutes from lausanne was the Chateau de Chillon. The most beautiful Castle in the world. It sits right on Lake Geneva and is nearly one bajillion years old. The day we went was quite mystical. Upon arrival in Lausanne it was nothing but sunshine and happiness. We hung out at the lake there for a bit and had a bite to eat. Afterwords we thought about taking a boat ride to the castle since that would be amazing, but since we were pinched for time we decided to catch the next train (appx 20 mins)
So we got to Montreaux. The town where the castle is. This is where the day really picked up for me. The sky was overcasted and looked to be like rain. which is my favorite. there is something so beautiful about heavy clouds. So we get to the castle and it was just beautiful. My mom and I had googled this castle before i even came here so it was really cool to actually be there. The suns rays were shining through the clouds right on to the lake... which looked more like an ocean. it just went on forever. the only thing in site were the mountains off to the side. It was amazing. So after relishing in the beauty of the castle we decided that since we came all this way we might as well go inside and take a look around. We all headed to the ticket lady. It says that if you are a student you get 2 dollars off. So of course all 3 of them pull out there exchange student business cards / school id's and I am bewildered because i have neither of those 2 things. But i think, hey if 3 of my friends go ahead of me it will be quite obvious that i am also a student... now this woman should NOT be working there where she has to see people all the time. She was the absolute biggest grouch i have ever seen in my entire life. not only did she not give me the discount but she gave me attitude too!. Pissed off me finally gets inside the castle and that all just fades away. It was so beautiful. upon entrance is a beautiful old courtyard. walking through the castle was amazing. so much history. to think that i was standing where people waaaaay back when used to stand and live! it was a really neat feeling. the view from the castle was spectacular.. of course near the end my camera died.. so typical. But i managed to get lots of good photos in. Which i am sure i will be posting on here later. After the self tour around the castle which by the way had the tiniest stairwells in the world. all our legs were shaking after walking up and down them. sooo steep and soo small gah!. Anyways. we acme outside and took a few photographs. a long with some hilarious jumping photos in the courtyard. I feel so lucky to have been to one of the most beautiful places in the world with 3 of my best friends. Once we began to leave the rain began to drizzle. Just the perfect end to the most perfect day.
May 1st. Was a thing at school called KANTIBALL. since they dont have "graduation" here i think this is like... there one time in the year where they have to get all dressed up. I invited Meagan Katie and Little Sarah from portugal to my house to get ready. Sarah was unfortunately not able to come because her mom had just arrived from Canada. Anyways... theres not too much to say about kaba on here.... other then it was an awesome night ;) we can just leave it at that.
May 2nd. Sarahs Mom Invites Katie and I over because she is going to cook food from back home for us and Sarahs Current host family It was the most amazing thing in the entire world. let me tell you. Her mom made home made french fries that turned into home made poutine with gravy from canada! it was all that is glory. Loved every second of it. I dream of that poutine ever now and then. wishing it were here with me... in my stomach. sigh...
along with wonderful club sandwiches that truly hit the spot.
There really is nothing like food from back home. Cant wait to eat my moms cooking! (nana and Dad that includes you guys too!)
This was actually a very special night for Katie and I. After dinner sarah and her mom were talking about how they were adding into there plans before she heads back home to make a quick one night stop in paris. Then Katie and I were talking amongst ourselves and hanging out with the host family and Sarah and Her mom were chatting away (in french) and then right after Mrs Kanhai asked Katie and I If we would like to join them for there ONE NIGHT IN PARIS! It was the most incredible invite in the world. I didnt expect it at all. so immediately we all got in the works. calling our parents back home. checking with host families here etc etc.
And within a week we were on our way!
May 9th and 10th. One night in Paris! <3
It was a real whirlwind let me tell you. we woke up early and were in HB (hauptbahnhof) by 630. Katie and I grabbed a hot chocolate and waited for Sarah and Her mom. our train left at 7:00 so we met up with them about 10 minutes before. Sarah and her mom had first class tickets because it worked out better for them with this "euro rail" ticket Mrs Kanhai had bought before she came. and Katie and I are cheap and had second class tickets. So we were seperated for the train ride there. we got on the french train and thought it was soooo cooool at first... but let me tell you. I have SUCH appreciation for swiss trains. It was BLOWING air conditioning, it was so noisy, and you could not for the life of you get comfortable. the seats we were in were ridiculous imagine an airplane sit if you will but SMALLER and with MUCH less room. But it was totally worth it.
Once we got to Paris (east) we bought our daily metro passes and headed to find the hotel. The metros in paris are filthy. so many germs (mike would have DIED) and plus lots of creepy people. We eventually got to the hotel. Took about 20 minutes there to get ready and then headed out. The first place we went was the Sacre Couer. It is this huuuge church. the weather in Paris was really cloudy and seemed like it was about to rain any minute. but that didnt damper our spirits! we headed towards the church, after first passing a market that is overwhelming with people. It amazes me how bold people can be here. They run up to us and yell "sexy ladies!" "come let me see your wrist try on this bracelet" beautiful girl!" Mrs. Kanhai played body guard and made sure we were left alone. after going up what was seemingly 10000 stairs we were finally there. the church was beautiful. it is so amazing to me how old these buildings are and how they are in such good shape. once we did the look around we came outside only to find that it was raining. we all did our best to cover ourselves. and once we were back at the bottom invested in some umbrellas. After the Church we headed to La Fayatte. the most amazing mall i have and ever will see in my life. 6 stories of pure bliss. first floor designers (gaaaaaaahhhhh!) followed by a outdoor floor. casual floor. it just kept going and going with beautiful beautiful clothes. I tried to imagine what the mall would look like around christmas time but i couldnt even picture it. It is a mall soo great that it would take DAYS to go through everything. did i mention it has a dome at the top? because who doesnt want a beautiful glass dome at the top of there malls? only the french. after we all melted in La fayatte we headed out again. this time to the big Kahuna. the Eiffel Tower. we arrived about 5 blocks away which was nice because we got a good look at it from a distance. it was breath taking. and to our luck the weather was clearing up! we decided to walk closer to the tower and investigate. It is so big! again with the men trying to get your attention left right and center. We then headed to wait in line to go up. the eiffel tower has 3 parts to it. So you can go either to the first part. second. or go all the way up. Of course we went all the way up. well just the 3 of us. Mrs. Kanhai doesn't like elevators or heights. It was BEAUTIFUL it was just getting to be sunset. Paris is HUGE waaaayyyy bigger then i had ever thought. it was a bit over whelming. we spent quite a while on the eiffel tower and eventually headed down. we knew we wanted to stay a bit later to make sure we saw it all lit up at night. so what better way to do that? Aha! A boat ride on the Seine River of course! we got onto a boat at 9 pm and ate a french crepe. as we left the dock to go down the river we saw the tower all light it. It is so beautiful i think its something EVERYONE must see at least once! (or live through it vicariously through me)
the boat ride was a GREAT idea because we only had 24 hours in paris and that way we got to see everything that is important in France. We even went past the Louvre... which we only saw from behind.. so no mona lisa or cool triangle glass thing for us. but oh wells. a long with the Notre dame. ( Qausimodo is my new best friend )
After the boat ride we knew we had time to squeeze in one more thing. Moulin Rouge. Now even though we didnt get to go in and see the show. just being there at night when its all lit up in that environment was really cool. I really glad that we checked that out. Afterwords we headed home. Got a couple hours of sleep and were back awake by 7 to get ready. Our train left at 10 so we had just enough time to do one more thing. Notre Dame. it was a sunday and mothers day at that! (love you mom!) so it was really cool to be in the church because it was during mass (how distracting to go to a church with constant tourists!) and we checked it out.. afterwords even having communion! how cool is that! not many people can say that they had communion at notre dame! anyways. afterwords we went and bought a "subway" for the train ride home and headed back
I left my heart in Paris.
I loved every second of that 24 hours!
on may 13 Eugene from my Rotary club invited me to go check out a radio show that he worked at for 22 years! from rotary lunches i have attended he knew that i was interested in broadcast journalism or something like that in my future. so he thought it would be a good idea to let me see how something like that might work. It was really cool and very informative. i got to see how things worked when you are "on air" and how they do all the editing and recording! afterwords i was invited back to his house to eat dinner with him and his wife who is an english teacher! we chatted for quite a few hours and later as the thunderstorm rolled in i headed home.
the weekends I've been clubbing. hehe. what else is new.
May 20th i travelled with Sarah to Lauterbrunned to meet up with my Friend Matt Grieve he has spent the last 2 months traveling in europe with Contiki travels. He says its been amazing and if you are interested in traveling check out there site..
i know i already have.
haha my poor mom... never going to get me to settle ever again!
anyways. we got there around 1 and it was BEAUTIFUL google it. filled with waterfalls and right in the mountains. they came on a very beautiful day. we spent most of the day just talking about the trip and how everything has been. later we headed for a hike and came to a waterfall. you pay to go in and see these 10 waterfall shoots which are just BREATHTAKING. the water pressure is unreal and it gets soo cold. you eventually climb these stairs and go into these caves to follow the waterfall shoots. As we walked we were informed that people have fallen in and once they hit the bottom... there are no traces of them. so BE CAREFUL.
After this Sarah and I had to head out. It was really nice to catch up him and chat about home.
* side note. about 3 days after this visit Sarah and I read in the swiss news paper that an american family went to the falls while on vacation and there little boy fell in ... all that was found was his shoe....

the following friday sarah and I went to party with My host brother and his best friend in Germany! YAAA BOOII! unreal.
that morning we were to go to zurich flughafen and say goodbye to katie because she was going home (long story) but we didnt make it :( she knows we love her and are missing her though!
Now! this past sunday, Sarah and I were in Locarno the weather was crappy but oh well. we went paddle boating on the lake and people watched the entire afternoon. there was NEVER a boring moment there. we wish we lived there. so unreal.
love love love. Now tomorrow we are heading to luzern to paddle boat with Gnomie in our sailor outfits...
ya we ARE that awesome.

<3 thats it for now. hope this is a good enough update for ya'll.
.... see you in 31 days loves!

posted by Jerrie Ambrus @ 2:34 PM