London. Paris. Switzerland… EUROPE!

(Anna)

We first arrived in London. Once everyone got their suitcases, we headed off to the hotel to drop them off. Everyone was so tired, but we started touring once we dropped off our luggage. The buses were huge! Kim, Tiffany, Asia, Colette, and I all sat together in the back of the bus. We drove to a near-by shopping center. We bought gifts, & took pictures at every corner. We looked like total tourists. But was it was all good. That night we ate hummus, I didn’t really like it. But I ate it anyway, just because I was hungry. After dinner, everyone was pooped & crashed at the hotel.

Second day, I woke up pretty early. Early enough to take a shower and finish getting ready, before the wake up call. Then everyone else in my room woke up and got themselves ready. We headed downstairs for breakfast. We ate toast with jam. But the yogurt was too sour. It was weird. Everyone from my troop tried saving money by packing toast and jam into our backpacks for our lunch later on. That day we got to see the changing of the guards. It was really cool! Too bad the queen was on vacation. I wanted to see her. That process took about an hour to finish, it was really cool how the scouts got to be in the gates to watch; what wasn’t so great was that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. After that, of course we left the gates and took pictures. Then headed off to, The Windsor Castle. That was where the queen really lived. There, I got to see the guards in person and take pictures with them. They don’t move or smile! It’s so crazy! Than we ate Indian food, that when people were separated. Some people went shopping and some went to the theater. I was in the group that went shopping. It would have been so much fun if I wasn’t so tired. Then after that my group went back to the hotel. We decided to buy food from the supermarket and pig-out in the hotel.

The third day, we woke up early once again. It was a pretty easy day. We went touring in a bus for about three hours. Then we did some more shopping and had some free time. During the free time, I went with the people in my troop. We were just walking around looking for cheap gifts and took pictures at random places. Then after the free time, we went to the London Eye! The line took forever, felt like day in that line. We met up with another Ef tour group from Africa, it was really cool. We tried to give them our facebooks, but it was a really big fail. While in the eye, it went really high. And me, I am really afraid of heights, so it was kinda hard for me to stand in there. The best part was the view! It was so beautiful. The Big Ben, the Windsor Castle, and etc seemed so small when we were at the highest point. That night we had fish & chips, but I felt like ordering a veggie pasta. It was yummy! Then that night everyone packed up and made sure they had everything before we left for Paris.

That morning we went to the train station to take the Eurotrain to Paris. The ride took about 3-4 hours. The cool thing about the train was that it went underwater, but you don’t get to see anything, it was pitch black when we went under. When we arrived to Paris, we looked for the bus. But the bus was late, so during that time, I was learning French from other people. Every other person spoke French. I felt so left out. When the bus came, we drove to the hotel and dropped our luggage, and headed to the lobby. And start touring again, even though everyone was tired. But it was ok, we started touring to the Eiffel tower. Once we got there, there were so many people trying to sell mini Eiffel tower key chains, but we didn’t buy until we finished the tour. When we got into the Eiffel tower, we took an elevator up. It was so high! But the view was worth it. Then we stood in line to take another elevator to go to the very top! IT WAS SO HIGH! I got so scared. But The View was what made it worth it. When we got down, we were bombarded with sellers from every corner! I was so scary, they followed you around. I tried to get ten key chains for one euro, but the best I got was 7 for one euro. It was still good though, because the normal price was one for two euros. After buying 28 Eiffel tower and a light-up one. Everyone went on the cruise through Paris. It was really pretty through the pictures. I only got to see the pictures because I fell asleep, it was a long day! After the cruise we went back to the hotel. I crashed, and fell into a deep sleep!

When I woke up, I took a shower and got ready for the day. That morning we went touring, then went to the Louvre Museum. There I spent most my day eating lunch and looking at the artwork. The museum was really big! Everywhere you go, you see the original artworks from the past. It was so amazing, the paintings from the ceilings to the walls were all so real. You can’t believe it. The sculptures were very detailed, very detailed! I loved taking pictures next to them. Posing the way they posed, you have to try it! It makes a really funny picture. While walking around, it gets really hot. Because there is always so many people! I got lost at some point during the tour, I panicked. Almost breaking down, I luckily found Sandy! YAY. After the tour people got split up one group to go shopping, and the other to go on a walking tour along the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. I went on a walking tour; it was a really long walk! I’m just happy, I got to eat frozen yogurt. After the museum, we got dinner. Then we went shopping for gifts since that was the last night in Paris. I got so many presents, for myself! But I did get some for other people. Once we got back to the hotel, everyone packed up and got ready to leave.

Waking up in the morning, we put our luggage into a bus and started hitting the road! We had a ten hour ride and the main thing I did was sleep! I needed as much sleep as possible. When we reached our destination, it felt like I was in another world. Everywhere I looked was grass, trees, hills, mountains. Mostly green, was what I saw. It was so amazing, I loved it! So once we got to the hotel, the rooms were amazing, everyone got a view of the scenery. We had a buffet for dinner, it was so yummy! Then the rest of the night was free time to roam around the hotel, sleep, etc. They had fireworks that night, because they celebrated their Swiss National holiday. We were very lucky!

Getting ready for the next day, we put our uniforms on to go to Our Chalet. Our Chalet is a world center for girlscouts and girl guides. In London, I forgot to mention, we went to Pax Lodge, a different world center. There we got tours around the building, learning about the history of scouting, singing songs, playing games, and attending a pinning ceremony. The pinning ceremony is very special, because you can’t buy this pin. You have to be there to get it. So, I’m very lucky. I learned so much from visiting the centers. After visiting the centers, we went downtown to do a little shopping. I didn’t get much, except chocolate! Then we hiked a mountain to see a waterfall, it was so amazingly big! The only problem was the weather, it was cold and rainy. Luckily everyone made it!

The last day of Switzerland, also the last day of the trip. We traveled up, Mount Pilates, it was really high up! When we reached the top, it felt like winter! It was ice cold, I was so happy to be wearing layers. We ate lunch up there, it was pretty expensive for a bowl of soup with sausages that wasn’t even cut up. But it was yummy! Asia got a sausage covered on onion sauce. FANCY. There we met a man who played the Swiss horn & yodeled. He was really cool & really nice. He tried teaching us how to play the horn. It isn’t as easy as he makes it look. Once we got down from the mountain, we took a boat cruise to Lucerne. There we did some shopping, of course I bought chocolate. Almost seventy dollars worth! We also got the knives we had ordered ahead of time. I got some really yummy macaroons. But I bought too much, they were really sweet. But it was ok, I still ate it and shared with other people. After the shopping, we went to eat a fancy dinner. There we had fondue, an entrée, & ice cream dessert. What made this dinner special was that there were performances of traditional Swiss yodeling & music. Before we left the restaurant, they invited people to the dance floor to dance the chicken dance, the can-can, we even made a conga line! It was so fun. Then when we left, we got this party bus. We karaoked and danced the night away. Since that was the last night and was expected to wake up early. The Californians decided to stay up. When we left, the love from the Canadians, made me tear up. Then off to the airport to head back home. Thanks to that trip, it left me with new friends, unforgettable memories, countless amounts of pictures, and learning that my body is capable of walking at least 10 miles a day! That is the end of my wonderful trip to Europe.