Expect the Unexpected

Where have the last 2 weeks gone?  I still can’t believe I saw and did so much over that past 14 days…I had such a great time and there are so many stories and pictures to go with my European Discovery Tour that it would take a couple hours for me to let you in on all the details so I am going to just give you the highlights of the trip to give you a feel for how great our Contiki Tour was! 

Casey and I left Terville on Sunday May 13 spending a couple hours on a bus tour in Luxembourg before catching our plan to London!  In London we were picked up by Casey’s friend Sarah who was our personal tour guide for the next couple days before the tour actually started.  Some highlights of London were; seeing Big Ben, going on the London Eye, watching Phantom of the Opera in Her Majesty’s Theater, and trying the local food (My favorite dishes were the fish ‘n’ chips and sticky toffee pudding).  It was fun to meet up with Tracy and Michelle for a couple hours in the afternoon and get everyone comfortable with each other before we met the rest of our tour group.

Bright and early Tuesday morning we had to go weigh our bags and take them to our bus.  Our tour manager’s name was Krista and she was AWESOME.  She really made our trip so much fun and helped us create some great memories.  Our bus driver was Mark and he was great guy too.  After all the bags were loaded on the bus we were off.  Our first stop was on the ferry crossing over to France where we got to see the white cliffs of Dover.  Then it was back on the bus as we drove through Belgium and made our way to Amsterdam.  Amsterdam was a really interesting city just from the prospective that anything and everything goes.  Drugs, alcohol, and sex have no limitations on them.  As well because of all the canals most people ride bikes and they will literally run you over if you are in their way.  Amsterdam is also home to the windmill, clogs, and tulips.  The first night we were in Amsterdam we had a canal cruise which was a great ice breaker and a great way to see the city.  We also got to walk through Anne Frank’s house which was very sobering. 

From Amsterdam we headed into Germany.  Our first stop was in a little town called St. Goar where we learned about beer steins and teddy bears.  Then we drove down the Rein seeing lots of little castles in the hills and barges on the river.  We reached Munich later in the afternoon and it was a holiday so not much was open.  We did make it into the town in time to see the large clock go off and wonder around a bit before heading to the famous Hofbrauhaus for some beer, pretzels, and pork knuckle.

From Germany we were off to Austria where we went white water rafting down the Austria Tyrol!  It was a beautiful day so even though the water was a bit chilly we had a great time!  Following white water rafting we went to the place where they make Swarski Crystal.  The museum was really interesting inside…so much stuff that sparkled!  On our way to the hotel we stopped in the town of Innsburg to see the gold roof and try some apple strudel and the oldest chocolate cake in the world…I’d pick the apple strudel any day.  We also picked up some Mozart Ball (which is very taste chocolates).  After quickly exploring the town we were off to our hotel which was up in the Austrian Alps…lets just say I could move to Austria! 

From Austria we finally got to ITALY!!!  Our first stop in Italy was Venice which we experience by walking the streets, crossing many bridges, eating pizza, and off course going for a gondola ride through the canals.  Our next stop in Italy was the eternal city…ROME!  The history in Rome was so incredible.  My favorite stop was the Colosseum but the ancient market place, the Italian wedding cake, Trevi fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica, and Spanish steps were pretty neat as well.  The pasta in Rome was very delicious.  We also got to go to the smallest country in Europe…Vatican City.  We wondered through the museum and stood admiring the Sistine Chapel which was painted entirely by one man, Michael Angelo. 

From Rome we entered the Tuscany Regina of Italy; our destination, Florence.  My favorite part of Florence was the Tuscan dinner we had.  The food was amazing, we got to dance randomly throughout the meal, and had an opera singing perform for us.  It was too bad we had to leave early because the buses had to be back as we were really having a good time together.  In Florence I also had the opportunity to buy pizza by the weight instead of by the slice, it was very tasty. 

From Florence we headed to what ended up being my favorite country of the trip…Switzerland!  Not only were we surrounded by the beauty of the mountains but there was also a crystal clear lake fed by a mountain river running through the town.  The bridges of Switzerland were really neat as well.  Some highlights from Switzerland were going to the top of the Swiss Alps (Straterhorn), staying in Jail for the night, and finding a random park to play at while wondering around the city. 

From Switzerland we headed to our final destination of the trip…Paris, France.  For me Paris was fun because I already had seen and done lots there so I really could just relax and take it all in one last time.  The best part about this trip to Paris was watching the sunset from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  On Saturday morning Casey and I said goodbye our contiki tourmates as the bus was heading back to London but we were staying in Paris for an extra night before coming back here to Terville to pack up.  We made it out to Versailles but unfortunately it decided to rain on us so we didn’t stay long.  Sunday afternoon we caught the train back here to Terville and arrived around 8 pm.  We spent the night looking at pictures and remembering all the good times we had over the past two weeks.

Tomorrow morning we head to Luxembourg to catch our flight to Frankfurt and then to Calgary arriving at 4 pm Calgary time.  I am really glad that I went on this contiki tour as it was a great way to end off my time here in Europe.  In exactly one week today I will be boarding another plane and flying to Australia for a month…which I am just as excited about!  So again I won’t be able to post until I get back from that trip in July!  Until then…enjoy whatever adventures life might be bringing your way and don’t forget to send me an email with what you are up to.Enjoy the pictures from my whirlwind trip around Europe below!

I am officially DONE my professional volleyball career here in France!  I know that it hasn’t quiet hit me yet that I am actually done and probably won’t until I get on a plane to come back to Canada!  This past week was full of goodbye.  One such goodbye was with Chloe and her family as we share one last dinner together (we had escargot and frogs legs).  I also said goodbye to my teammates and friends from church. 

In the meantime I am getting very excited to start my Contiki tour with Casey, Tracy, and Michelle!  We are going to be traveling to Luxembourg, London, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and will be ending our trip in Paris!  I know this was a really short post but it is 1:45am and I have to get up at 8 am to be on the road by 9.  I will try and post at least once while we are touring but if that doesn’t happen there will definitely be a BIG post at the end of the trip!  Can’t wait to get back to Canada and see all you folks from home! 

With my time coming to an end here in France people seem to be making a bigger effort to spend time with me.  This past week I got to go over to Chloe’s house and teach her mom the basics of scrapbooking followed by making some pancakes with Chloe for everyone to eat.  This was a real treat for them and my way of saying thank you for the kindness they have shown me while I have been here.  They don’t have pancakes here in France so Chloe and I made three different kinds; plain, chocolate chip, and blueberry.  They loved them all!

This past weekend we had our longest road trip of the season.  After practice from 7-9pm on Friday we boarded the bus at 9:30pm headed for Toulous (in the south west corner of France).  We didn’t reach our destination until 12 hours later at 9:30 in the morning.  Since it was Jovanna’s (a teammate) birthday we (the rest of the team) went for a walk to the local store and picked out a few gifts.  It was really fun!  Other than that we ate and slept trying to let our bodies be refueled for the match that night.  We played well and won in three.  This keeps us in second place with one weekend to go!!! After the match we stopped at McDonalds for dinner (I know I still don’t get over how they eat here).  Then it was another 12 hour bus ride through the night home.  Today I’m pretty tired but after a nap this afternoon I had enough energy to do a bit of cleaning and get ready for Casey to arrive tomorrow!!!! I am so excited that she is coming and this next week is already starting to book up with people wanting to hang out with me one last time so we will have a good time.  Well that’s all for now.  I hope to write one more time before I hit the road on my Contiki tour around Europe.  Either way if you are going to send me any snail mail please send it to my house in Calgary (if you need the address email me).

Well I’m on the final stretch of my time here in France.  With just under two weeks to go I am getting ready to come home.  The weather here has been incredible nice and all the girls say that is it abnormal for this time of year…we are talking high 20’s every day for the past 3 weeks!  Although I am getting so close to the end time also seems to be slowing down.  My friend, Andrea says it is because I spend too much time thinking about it…which is probably true, so now instead I am writing about it to all of you…ha ha ha!!!  This past weekend we played the first place team in our league and lost in 5 it was a good game but we just couldn’t pull it off.  We are still in second place and if we win our last two games the team will move up to Pro A next year. 

Today I had the privilege of finally going to church again (it’s been a while as I have been away a lot lately).  I felt so blessed by the people there as they announced to everyone that this was my last Sunday and many people in the church came up afterwards and wished me a good trip home and blessings to me, my family, and my church in Canada!  I truly felt loved by the people in this church even though I couldn’t attend regularly.  It was also such a blessing to me that we sang “I’m coming back to the heart of worship” today in Church as that is what I felt I was doing this morning!  May God bless them for accepting me with open arms and for the kindness and love they have shown towards me!!!

This coming weekend we have the longest road trip of the season down to Tulle in the South West corner of France (which means a couple of nights of sleeping on the bus ).  The Monday after that my good friend Casey arrives from Calgary and will spend my last week with me here before we take off for our Contiki Tour!!!  As you can tell I am very excited to be almost done.  Still don’t know what lies ahead for the rest of the summer or the fall but I know that it is in God’s hands (which is a much better place than mine) and that in his time he will show me where he wants me to go next and what he wants me to do!  I just want to finish by sending out my congratulations to all my friends who are graduating from University this year!  May God bless you as you being a new adventure with him!

PS If you plan on sending me some snail mail here to France you need to send it by May 5 or I will not get it before I leave.  Otherwise all snail mail can be sent to my house in Calgary (if you need the address send me an email and I will get it to you)!!!

This past weekend I passed the under 20 days mark on my countdown to when I am done here in France.  To celebrate this exciting date a bunch of us international players in National 1 meet in Paris to celebrate making through the year.  The weekend started off with my team going to Clamart (which is a suburb of Paris) to play against the team there, which Larissa Cundy (another Canadian) is on.  It was a well fought match with both teams working hard.  It went to five sets and like usual I was called on in the last 5 points of the 5^th set to go in and get a block for our team.  Thankfully I was successful on this mission and our team won the game!  Afterward instead of heading back to Terville with the team I spent the night at Larissa’s place.  We had a great time chatting and catching up.

Sunday we headed to Versailles where we met up with Mel (another Canadian) and Marsha (Mel’s Russian teammate).  Larissa and I decided to go to Marie Antoinette’s Estate.  But before that we passed through the gardens with all the fountains on and music playing in the background.  It was so beautiful to see the amazing fountains and the music made it feel like you had traveled back in time (they only have the fountains and music on Sunday’s).  After spending some time looking at the fountains and listening to the music we continued to Marie-Antoinette’s Estate.  It was absolutely beautiful, so tranquil, you felt like you had stepped into another world while walking around her village, it was so amazing.  We really wished that we had more time to spend there but we had to get to our hotel and grab a bite to eat before our illumination tour started.

Larissa and I really wanted to subway and a chocolate, banana, nut crepe so we sprinted to both locations and got the food to go so we could eat it on the bus.  The illumination tour took us past most of the historical sites of the city while they were lit up at night.  It was interesting to hear the history behind the major buildings.  After the tour we went to a show together where there were some really amazing acrobats; one of the stunts was a guy balancing a girl on his head while she was upside down on her head without holding onto each other.  There was also a really good juggler who could juggle balls in his mouth.  They also had a improve actor who had the audience participate in making a movie.  It was really funny!  Unfortunately they wouldn’t allow us to take pictures inside (they even took our cameras at the door).  Overall we had a really good time with each other and it was a great way to celebrate making it through the year!  Now I only have 3 weeks of volleyball left and I am looking forward to the arrival my friend Casey on May 7!!!