Our vacation to....

Europe! We just got back from an amazing, fun-filled vacation to Europe, but that was not what we had planned. We were actually planning on going to Brazil.....We had been planning our trip to Brazil for months and we were originally going to leave in May. Since Brazil requires a visa for all American travelers, we applied and received them back in April. However, our trip got changed to August and since the Visas said that they were good for 5 years, we all thought that everything was great.

Well, we packed our bags, Steven's parents came in to town, and we headed off to the airport. We got up to the check-in line when we found out that while our visas were good for five years, there was some crazy requirement that the FIRST entry into the country had to be made within 90 days. Since we were going to leave in May, nobody mentioned that to us, but once our trip was changed, we ended up missing the deadline by about 3 weeks. We were all pretty upset. We tried and tried to work with the Brazilian Embassy to see if they would do anything for us. We were even going to fly to LA the next day and visit them in person. But, it was all to no avail. They were not going to help us. So at this point, we were way sad. But then...

Dave and Chris (Dad and Mom Foote) are amazing and since we had the vacation already planned and our bags already packed, they decided that we were going to go on a vacation anyways. So, within 24 hours we were on a plane to Paris..... and here is the story of our wonderful European vacation!

We visited France, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium. We did so many fun things that I could never talk about them all, and so here are the highlights of the trip and a fun slide show at the end that tells the story of our vacation (Click on the slide show and it will bring up a window to watch!):

The Sights of Paris
Going to Paris has always been a dream for me, and it was a dream that was just as good in the fulfillment as in the dreaming. My favorite part was definitely the Eiffel Tower, but we also saw all the other main attractions of Paris and enjoyed our baguettes and patisseries while we were at it.
Grenoble and the French Countryside
After spending three days in Paris, we took our journey on the road and first visited Grenoble, France and a bunch of tiny towns in the French countryside. The architecture and buildings in every tiny town were incredible. I think that my favorite part here was when we took a cable car up a mountain and had a view of the city all lit up at night.
Biking and Berries in Switzerland
We rented bikes and rode around the lake in Neuchatel, Switzerland. We had a great time and found fresh berries to pick on the way. Switzerland is very clean and parts of it really reminded me of my home back in Canada.
Germany and the Black Forest
My family on my mom's side come from Germany, and learning about my German heritage has always been a big part of my life. I think Germany overall, maybe because of that, was my favorite part of the trip. We took a scenic drive through the black forest, and hiked up to a waterfall. It was slightly raining when we did it, which made the whole thing seem like a fairytale to me. And... Steven managed to eat 5 bratwurst sausages in less than a 24 hour period. As for the rest of us, we loved the apple strudel....
Our new "European Looks"
In Paris, Steven and I both got some new European clothes. We even managed to get Steven a new suit for only 35 Euros. Compared to how expensive everything else was in Europe, that was a steal.Well, we did SO many other things, but I feel like this is already way too long. We found Belgium waffles. I loved how clean and modern Luxembourg was. We ate more than we should have. I found out that you have to pay to use public restrooms in Europe. We became good at using the Paris Metro. We visited the lake where they rode part of the Tour de France. We took a cool boat ride around Strasburg. Well....I'll stop now. Thanks Mom and Dad Foote, we had an amazing trip!

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