reflections

My journey to Europe has been incredible. I am so lucky to have a mother like my mother; she has stood at many Girl Scout cookie booths for hours with me in the cold to get here with me.

I've enjoyed many trips to museums with her, awesome French and Austrian meals, refreshing drinks, she has seen many close family friends with me, and we have made time for ourselves.

My favorite thing I've done with her is probably the "Sound of Music" tour. We saw really cool sights together and laughed and joked together. I saw the outside of the actual house from the movie! It was the best part. I saw so much of the garden in the front and the lake where Maria and the children fell in, and also where the gate was that led to the water.  I love the movie because  of the music and the beautiful story of this family. I also love Julie Andrews – she has the most beautiful voice. In fact, I was singing the songs from movie throughout the entire tour which I'm sure everyone loved! Haha.

My favorite meal with her is probably our first meal in Austria; I had an actually really yummy spinach dumpling and wiener shnitzel with parsley potatoes. Wiener schnitzel  is a delicious breaded fried pork. It was so very good. My favorite dessert I shared with her is Turkish honey ice cream; it's the best dessert ever! You have to try it because all the different flavors blend in with the ice cream. At first it looks like mango ice cream because of the slightly browned vanilla ice cream with the orange chunks (which is the honey).

I have had fun with her here in Europe, even though it's about to come to an end soon. I love her so much with all my heart. This is going to be a memorable experience because my mother was with me the whole time, loving me and caring for me. She made sure we got on the right trains, we had enough to eat, knew where we were going next, and which museum was next in Paris or Austria.  When we were in Paris, I kept asking her what time it was so she bought me a watch. This gave me the opportunity to tell her what time it was all the time. I became the official timekeeper of our trip!

In Paris, my favorite tourist spot was Sacre Coeur,  which means "sacred heart" in French.  It is the highest point in Paris and is all white. I liked the huge mosaic of Jesus – his hands were reaching out towards me and his heart was shining.  It was a really memorable and moving experience. Outside of the church is where I was able to haggle for the first time ever. I would needed a hat really bad because the sun was really hot and in my face. There were some sellers outside selling hats and I only had a little bit of spending money that day and so my hesitation made the price come down on the hat and I got it for €10 instead of €15!

My favorite place to eat was when my mom and I brought a baguette and cheese and sat by some birds on a curb where there tons of artists painting everywhere.  This was in Montmartre, in the section of Paris that was used by artists, especially in the early 1900s.  There were artist everywhere painting scenes from Paris, flowers, and people of the street. I fell in love with some paintings but they were really expensive!

 In the next few days we are meeting up with my dad and my brother again, and I am so excited to see my godfather Matthis! We fly home on Saturday and begin a new chapter in our lives in our new home in St. Louis. What an incredible summer I have had, I will never forget it. Enjoy the kooky photos!