Besides putting up pictures from my vacation so far in Lyon, Paris, and Berlin, I also added various pictures from friends into the sections where they belong, so keep an eye out for those. (They're also without captions)

Whitney est venue me voir, so we hit up Lyon and Paris like a whirlwind-

Us crossing a bridge over the Rhone on our way to the Marche de Noel


Whit at the marche


Getting ready in our scarves to go out in the freezing cold

The tea stand that I loved! The people there knew me because I went so often...sad?


Whit dancing in my chambre. I wish I could remember which song!


A little blurry.. but each side of this one intersection on Champs-Elysees was decorated like this and in the midst of all the white trees there was also a green one with lights


oooh Champs-Elysees, oooh Champs-Elysees....I don't remember the rest of the words


So after the nice couple took this picture of us, the man then proceded to take the same picture of us with his wife.. strange... but lately my friends and I have been trying to figure out what's so special about the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.. because I feel like they have them everywhere. Why aren't the others special?


many many Edith Piaf CDs at the Virgin Megastore


Do we have sections titled thrash/black/speed/death at home??


We thought this was a pretty view


and then we turned around and thought this was an amazing view of the arc.


This is how foggy it was the first night. We couldn't even see the Tour Eiffel.


A carousel in the middle of the Jardin du Tuileries.


because we can can can...


no caption necessary


We found a Starbucks! Now I've been to one in Geneva, Athens, Paris... and Berlin (I don't even like coffee, but I do love my Starbucks)


Is it just me, or do I look like an alien?


statue...

Not nice weather, but nice enough to at least see it!


We could not get the eiffel tower between us! Don't know why...



Catacombs.. before we knew that you aren't supposed to take pictures with flash.. whoops

whoops again.. seriously though, we didn't know until someone else took a picture right after us


a heart? how sweet


Notre Dame. No hunchback this time, but instead a Christmas tree! (and no scaffolding)

Pretty Tree


I've got something in my teeth.. thanks for telling me Whit!


Inside Notre Dame


Venus de Milo


La Victoire de Samothrace? I think that's right


The Louvre.. lit up this time! But no cafe this time...
Note that this picture and the one of me in front of the Tour Eiffel at night are pretty much exactly the same as when I was there in 2004. Just thought that was funny.


Pretty sparkleys and the reflection


moi


A huge fountain in Versailles. We took forever in the garden and it wasn't even very pretty because it's winter. It would honestly take hours and hours and hours in the summer.


Take your pick of topiaries


Le Penseur. You might know him as The Thinker.
After Whitney left at 4 in the morning, I spent the day going to musee Rodin (only 1 euro to get into the gardens.. pretty sweet), and then I wasted time at the Jardin du Luxembourg before making my way to the airport.


I honestly don't know what this is, but I thought it was a pretty angle with the flowers


Another view of Le Penseur.

Christmas in Berlin!! Well the 23-27 in Berlin with Katie, Jean, and Jean's twin Mary

Mary, Jean, and I in the middle of a square.. that I don't remember the name of...


And then Santas came and we took pictures and they gave us little bags like theirs with food. And even though it was probably poisonous, we ate it (oranges, a breakfast bar type thing, nuts that we cracked open with our hands and the help of the safe door in our hotel room, and a pretty gross cookie)


Berlin Dom. I feel really bad I'm probably messing up these names....but I think that's what this is.


Pretty much Berlin's version of the Arc de Triomphe, but the middle was for rich people and everyone else had to go through on the sides.


Really cool memorial. You'd have to be there and walk through.


Berlin wall


The Christmas "markt" we had to spend a euro to get into.. wasn't even as good as the one by our hotel, but it was pretty cool.


Our bright yellow hotel that was really cheap, had great breakfast, and also gave us 2 rooms with 4 beds each for 4 people total. We never quite figured that one out. Our neighbor was also really smelly and had long nails... but oh well.
This is also the scene of where Mary, Jean, and I got trapped in at 3:30 in the morning because we were supposed to leave to go to the airport, but the front door was locked, and we had already dropped our key off in the drop box at reception. SO with the key out of reach, we tried to wake people up and even tried to break the lock, but to no avail. We waited downstairs in the freezing little hallway for 3 hours until the receptionist came and told us that someone must have locked it, but no one's supposed to from the inside. How did this story end? Mary and Jean missed their flight, so they found a train, and I booked it to the s bahn and made it to the airport just in time to check in and go board immediately. Then I navigated through Paris (which I'm getting quite good at) and made it back to Lyon at 3:30; about 12 hours after this whole fiasco started.


Jean and I drinking hot chocolate made with powder Katie brought and sink water (it was hot enough- our backup was to use the heater in our room), and yummy straws. That mug is from the Christmas market across the street. Mary and I collected 7 total. That first brown one we knew we could walk around with so we just left with it- then we found out that it's legit! You have to pay a deposit, so if you bring the mug back you get your money back.. but we didn't bring the mugs back.


Unter die Linden- cool street with lots of history I won't go into.


Katie and I with a cuddley bear


After our delicious Christmas dinner at the restaurant that was completely blue and white in the downstairs of a store that sold the blue and white stuff. It was insane... but delicious, and then it snowed.


And it's been snowing ever since.


Jean playing


Deer at the cool market where we kept going to get drinks and therefore mugs


I was trying to capture the purpleness of this.. I don't know if you get the idea. It was SO purple


On our way to some museums after we had walked the wrong way, so had turned around and were backtracking.. I looked up and thought the berries were pretty


The wall with some snow. You know, even if those pieces of Berlin Wall they sell at souvenir shops aren't pieces of THE Berlin Wall, Jean's right; they are pieces of Berlin Wall.


Jean, Mary, and my last night = face masks that Mary brought!
(Katie left the night before to head over to Scotland.. we haven't heard from her, but she didn't have minutes to spare on her phone. So we're basically hoping she's alive.)