Sunday, June 26, 2011

Poem by Molly - written at the airport on the way home

Our Trip

Written By Molly

We are waiting in an airport

I would rather be out playing a sport

Like when we played soccer in Leeds

Or ran through an English hillside in the weeds

We had so much fun on out trip

With those bikers who had stripped

Thousands of pictures we have taken

And now going home is the time we have forsaken

Gonna miss those days in Paris

And our adventure on a farris...

Wheel! That London Eye

Was pretty damn fly

And even though we are tired

We are all still inspired

Inspired to return to England and France

Where again we will dance

Dance around Stone Henge

And see the baths were Romans did cleanse

We saw many beautiful sights

And went up to some crazy heights

In 12 days we did a lot

And definitely saw some guys who were hot

We all shared lots of laughs

And became one another's other halves

Now its time to board the plane

But we will definitely do this again and go to Spain!


- Molly


Molly's wrap - best performed life with Amalia!

A Day in London

Written By Molly


I was just on the millenium bridge

It was pretty cool just a smidge

It was used in Harry Potter

But Darren Criss is much hotter

Hotter than Danielle Radcliffe

Who Reminds me of a fried fish

Fried fish which I just ate

At a tavern not very late

All of this I did on a trip

A trip who's name does not fit

Does not fit in this rhythm

And so now it is time

Time, time, time to go

So bye, bye, bye my hoe

Wiki Wiki Wow

Word!


Friday, June 24, 2011

Highs and Lows of the Trip

OUR HIGHS AND LOWS (at a random order), obviously there were many to choose from (specially the highs!), so this is just a sample from us all: *still missing a few but will add them on later

AMELIA
High - Being with friends
Low - Rushing around

GRACE
High - Boating on the Seine, listening to live music on the metro
Low - Lack of Sleep

JACK
High - All of the old buildings everywhere
Low - The crappy hotel in France

STEVIE
High - Playing soccer with everyone
Low - No beer the last evening

SEBASTIAN
High - Getting all these amazing photos
Low - Food not being the best at some places (add on by Niki: and probably loosing some of these amazing photos due to the stolen hard disk, he wrote his note before we found out....)

ROSEY
High - Climbing the 400 steps (each way) to the top of Notre Dame Tower and actually making it. The view was spectacular. (and it was easier than I thought it would be!)
Low - Other than sore feet, would be to stick with the first low of the trip, having to need glasses to see the movie on the seat screen on the airplane

KEITH
High - Stonehenge, inner part of York, soccer in Leeds and Stratford, Eiffel Tower and last metro ride in Paris
Low - No sleep, sore feet (and an add on: the layover in Miami when we sat on the tarmac for an hour)

SHAYNE
High - The Eiffel Tower and the Globe Theatre
Low - No sleep

AMALIA
High - Every minute!
Low - Maya fracturing her finger

COLIN
High - Maeve and Nina's reactions upon receiving gifts from friends
Low - All the walking

ROSA
High - Wandering around London without a set schedule
Low - Not going to mass at Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame

MAEVE
High - Licking Shakespeare's floor
Low - Throwing up and feeling sick on some mornings

COLE
High - Too many.... Picking one: Playing soccer in the giant cricket field in Stratford upon Avon
Low - It rained too much one day

AURORA
High - Wandering around town and finding all of the thrift stores
Low - Lack of sleep on most days and being late all the time

SAISHA
High - Frolicking through Anne Hathaway's garden
Low - The lack of sleep

GEORGIA
High - The carousel ride and row boating in Stratford
Low - Blistered feet

HANNAH B.
High - There are too many to choose from, but I will use this one: While rooming with Megan at the second hotel in England and while getting ready for bed, there was a lull in conversation and she said "I think we're going to be good friends." It sounds cheese but it was so nice!
Low - Feeling as if my feet were going to shrivel up and die from pain while walking from dinner to the Eiffel Tower on our last night in Paris

SARAH
High - Every day was full of amazing connections with history and art and it was all very exciting!!! Being with wonderful friends on a big adventure and sharing spontaneous moments of singing on the bus and soccer in the park was so much fun.
Low - Feeling hurried a few times and Niki sad over her lost hard drive

HANNAH T.
High - Going to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Shakespeare and Co. (practically falling in love with that bookstore enough to live in it) I didn't want to leave!!!!! I also loved Stratford and Oxford!
Low - Getting sick during the trip

MOLLY
High - Everything (I know it's stupid but every single place we visited, every single memory shared was amazing and I tried for hours to think of something that stood out, but I couldn't
Low - Not enough sleep

KIMBERLY
High - The entire group riding the carousel at top speed in York, hearing the kids singing and playing the guitar on the long bus ride to Leeds and watching the sun go down over Paris from the steps at Sacre Coeur and then meandering down through the windy, cobblestone streets of Montmartre with the lit up church looming above.
Low - When Doug went off on Sarah because she asked if we could stay a few minutes to hear the choir sing in Notre Dame!!

MARK
High - On the first day in London, turning the corner of a rather ho hum street and being greeted by the House of Parliament and Big Ben rising majestically above the river Thames.
Low - Having to come home when I could have eaten pear tarts and baguettes for another week.

KIM
High - I loved the thick green grassy hill next to the Bronte home, watching our beautiful group enjoy the flowers, the sheep, the lamb sitting in the grass, the grey skies and the gentle wind that was blowing... breathtaking!
Low - No lows for me

ANAKA
High - Being with friends, wondering around in the streets and the Eiffel Tower
Low - Being tired

MAYA
High - Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower and looking out over the city
Low - Fracturing my finger

DAVID
High - The view from the Eiffel Tower at night and sitting outside Sacre Coeur at dusk then walking down Montmartre as the sun set. Both were incredible experiences!
Low - The trip did have its lows, such as the less-than-ideal accommodation in Paris, a migraine at the Roman Baths, and the increasingly difficult quest for Indian food in London, but the lows that did occur were far outweighed by the highs!

HANNAH J
High - Rowing in Stratford and Hamleys Toy Store
Low - Having time limits and the ticket thing you had to walk through in the underground

NIKI
High - Carousel ride, sharing (meaty) meals with Gretchen, the kids singing & playing music on the bus rides, treating everyone to some fresh food from the London market on the train ride, listening to the choir at Sacre Coeur
Low - The moral low after the dinner in Leeds, stopping Maya and Silas in the Louvre when wanting to sing "Happy B'day" to me through some rolled up magazines, because I thought it would too loud... :o( and ending the trip with the stolen hard disk

MEAGAN
High - The 5 hours we spent wandering Paris
Low - Having a cold while we were in Paris

TAYLOR
High - Anne Hathaway's Garden
Low - Very little sleep

SILAS
High - Soccer game and the visit to Hamleys 5-story toy store - 250 years old!!
Low - The last ("crappy") hotel we stayed in

ALISON
High - Being moved to tears by the exquisite beauty of Jan Vermeer's intimate painting of a seamstress
Low - Rushing

PENELOPE
High - Being on the Eiffel Tower with her friends watching the lights twinkle
Low - Having to wake up early

GRETCHEN
High - Anne Hathaway's garden, the awesomeness of Notre Dame and all the changing landscape and different stones used for all the different towns that we visited
Low - Yelling at the kids in my room and the food in Wales.... ABBA

JONATHAN
High - The Eiffel Tower
Low - The hotel in Paris

NARAYAN
High - Playing indoor soccer with everybody!!!!
Low - Leaving London

Photos Day 10 / part 3

Chocolate angels.... that's art!

Louxembourgh gardens, a treat for the eye!

Just hanging out on the bikes, although that could have been fun too!

Everybody is happy with some chocolate!

We could have lost a few souls in this bookstore "Shakespeare and company"

Photos Day 10 / part 2

What a fun group to be with

We all got along so well

Can you hear them laugh?!?

We all hung out together

Keep walking... Mark making sure we got them all with us!

Photos Day 10 / part 1

Now, how can that not impress you...

City of love... I wonder why?~

What an beautiful ending to a beautiful trip!

Bon nuit Paris!

Day 10 June 20, 2011 - Paris

Hello again,

Hard to believe our time in Europe together is soon over.... Our last day in Paris was quite filled but yet also gave us some free time for last minute exploring and shopping on our own as well.

We started off with a metro ride into town to see the impressive church of Notre Dame with some time to walk through it, before we would have almost 4 hours to ourselves! Everyone went off in small groups into different directions - on to the Arc de Triumph, a hike up the stairs of Notre Dame for a view over the city, shopping in some Parisian boutiques or the best chocolatier in town, a stroll through the Luxembourg gardens and the Latin quarter or on to exploring some used book shops. Even though it was ample of time compared to our other free hours during the week, we all could have used a few more and just "be"...!

We had an early dinner that night at a speciality restaurant serving Flemmenkuchen, a bit like pizza - Alsatian flat bread with cheese and toppings (ham, mushrooms, peppers, onions,...) and for dessert the same type of bread with creme freche and chocolate or fruit. It was quite yummy but unusual for many - not quite a full dinner meal in our minds. I guess it's all a learning experience of the different cultures and cuisines!

Afterwards we walked through town, with some of us being already quite tired - we did a lot of walking those days and our legs definitely felt it....! Doug, our tour leader, had a fast pace and it took all our strength to keep up with him that evening. The bright side of it is, that this is the best way to get to see a city and explore it - at home we have time to rest our sore feet and remember all the wonderful walks! A river boat ride, on the Seine, seeing the beautiful old buildings come to life being lit up, gave us a second wind, which we needed for our visit up to the Eiffeltower at 10:30pm. It was a spectacular view to see the city of love from above and even though many of us got disappointed and couldn't go up to the very top, it was a perfect ending to our time together!

We were all filled with happiness and gratitude to have lived together for the last 10 days with all of it's highs and lows, having experienced being together for so long, which none of us had done before. We had no idea how it would all work out and I think and are sure most all of the other 38 will agree - we managed really well, stayed flexible, helped each other, worked it out and most of all enjoyed each other's company! We did have a few sad moments of some sore throats, upset tummies and fatigue, missing items like an Ipod, a camera, a money belt and obviously Maya's broken pinky finger was one of our biggest group lows. (How she managed the days after, treating it like it never happened though, was amazing - heads off to you Maya!)

So with all of this said, we hope you enjoyed following us along, reading the blog and looking at some of our photos giving you the evidence, that we really were there ;o) I most certainly enjoyed writing it, and apologize that the last ones came so late - but are glad they are complete now!

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good bye.....

Alison, Gretchen, Kim, Kimberly, Mark, Niki, Rosey & Sarah - YOUR COMMUNITY MAMAS AND DAD

David, Jack, Hannah B, Megan, Ethan, Colin, Jonathan, Aurora, Keith, Cole, Stevie, Taylor, Molly, Penelope, Amelia, Narayan, Sebastian, Shayne, Rosa, Anaka, Maeve, Nina, Georgia, Saisha, Hannah J., Amalia, Jameson, Hannah T., Grace, Silas, Maya - A WONDERFUL GROUP OF KIDS TO BE WITH!!!