a world of first times

Finally I have arrived in Europe. My first chance to discover only a small part of God's beautiful earth. so far, I have been to Vienna, Paris, and London. With no bags, i might add. The highlights from the Vienna trip would include our amazing hostel, St Stephen's Cathedral, and the Hofburg Palace. The pic to the right is of the cathedral. Mozart was married at this church, which is pretty cool. We also went to a classical musical/opera/ballet. Not really my jam, but neat t experience at least once in a persons life.

Next, we went to Paris. The city of love some say. Highlights from Paris would include St. Chapelle, Notre Dome, The Louvre, Versailles, Orsay, The Arc de Triomphe, and of course the Eiffel Tower. St. Chapelle was built in 1242 and has stained glass windows of images from the bible from Genesis until the time of Christ. The light shinning through the windows is a symbol of God's grace shinning down to the earth. The crown of thorns is also housed here, but we didnt get to see that. The Louvre houses tons and tons of art that would have taken us 4 days to view, so we just focused on the really famous paintings and sculptures. The Orsay then follows the Louvre, housing art from the Impression era. It contains the best of Monet and Van Gogh, among many others. I liked this better than the Louvre. The Arc de Triomphe is the biggest arc in the world. It was built by Napoleon and his funeral took place here. This was a neat sight to see. Versailles was quite the sight to see as well. Spring would have been a better time to go in order to enjoy all of the gardens, but we did get to see the inside of the palace. My fav Paris sight is naturally the Eiffel Tower. At the top of ever hour it sparkles and is something everyone should see once in their life.

Lastly...London! What a wonderful place to be. Such nice and helpful people with such cute lil accents. Highlights from London include going up in the London Eye, Big Ben, going to a church service at Westminister Abbey, and the Tower of London. The abbey has over 3000 tombs under it including those of 29 kings and queens, and others like the writer Chaucer, and even Charles Darwin. The Tower of London was my favorite visit. We had a great tour guide, and it was neat to see the royal jewels and to learn about all of the history that happened right where we stood. The London Eye is the worlds biggest ferris wheel.

Pictures to come soon!