cobblestones and places unknown: a visit from my family

What a whirlwind week it’s been! I honestly couldn’t even concentrate at work on Wednesday because I was so excited for my family to arrive. On Thursday morning, I woke up in such a great mood, and caught the metro to Gare du Midi to take my train to Paris! It was a short trip, and I arrived in Paris around noon, where I planned to meet up with Mom, Hayley, and Cameron at their hotel near the Galleries de Lafayette. And God bless her, my mom was waiting, jetlagged and all, for me in the lobby. I of course burst into big old tears and basically made an idiot of myself, but I was literally so happy to see her. We went on up to the room where I found Hayley and Cameron passed out on their beds, completely jetlagged. Once we managed to rouse them, we came up with some semblance of a plan for the day.

Our initial plan was to grab some lunch first and then walk along the Champs-Elysees, visiting the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower along the way. We grabbed some lunch at a sidewalk café right near our hotel, and Cameron actually tried some escargot! Our first challenge was getting on the metro. We couldn’t find the ticket counter near the entrance we used, so we were honestly stuck- trapped between the exit and the turnstile, which we couldn’t enter. I had a ticket that I’d bought earlier, but Hayley, Mom, and Cameron had nothing. After some coaxing from Hayley and I, Cameron and his limber self simply jumped right over the turnstile! That left Hayley and Mom still on the other side. Thankfully, some French guy took pity on them and gave them two of his tickets. It’s always an adventure with the Hassler family!

After finally mastering the metro, we were on our way to the Champs-Elysees, which is a big, famous boulevard in Paris. Our metro stop dropped us off what we thought was near the Champs-Elysees, but we took a few wrong turns (shocker…) and ended up walking along the Seine for a while. This was fine though, because it was a beautiful day to just amble along, and it gave us all some time to catch up. When we finally found the Champs-Elysees, Hayley and I of course couldn’t help but be distracted by all of the beautiful stores and did some quick shopping, to Cameron’s dismay. We walked all the way up to the Arc, which is in the middle of this huge roundabout, about 6 or 7 lanes thick. We couldn’t figure out how to get to what was essentially an island in the middle of the road, but due to Cameron’s determination, we finally figured out that we had to take a tunnel under the road that would lead us straight there.

We decided to go up to the top of the Arc, and the view was beautiful! It truly was a 360 degree view of Paris, and I recognized a lot of the landmarks from the last two times I’d visited. We spent some time up there, and then headed down, with the intention of walking towards the Eiffel Tower. For some reason my body decided to betray me at this point, and the beginnings of what would be a several day long stomach bug hit. It wasn’t pleasant, but I was determined not to let it ruin my time with my family. We finally made it to the Eiffel Tower after some sketchy turns through a very smelly park, among other things. As a brief aside, I LOVE the Eiffel Tower. I think it is so pretty and regal, and I’ve had a lot of good memories there. To me, it represents the first time I ever visited Europe, and I was so caught up in the excitement and newness of it all.

By the time we’d reached the Eiffel Tower, it was around sunset. Mom hopped in the long line to buy us all tickets to the top, while Hayley, Cameron, and I picked a bench to sit and wait. Like a good brother, Cameron went to grab me a diet Coke. Hilarity ensued. Cameron was standing in line waiting, when he was approached by a type of street urchin. Since this was Cameron’s first time abroad, he isn’t really used to dealing with this, so he broke the first rule: don’t engage in conversation! This lady apparently wanted him to sign some petition, so he quickly wrote the name “Roger Swanson” (yes I know, where does he come up with this stuff?) down. Apparently the next columns said “zip code” (which he faked) and $ amount, which he drew a line through. The lady wasn’t satisfied with this, and kept pointing under the last column. Poor Cameron was so flustered by this point and by the fact that the lady wouldn’t leave him alone, so he ended up giving her a euro. Hayley and I watched this whole exchange go down from afar, and couldn’t help but die with laughter. Turns out by giving the woman a euro, he then didn’t have enough money to buy the drink, so he had to come back over to us, thoroughly exasperated, amused, and mad all at once.

By this time Mom was near the beginning of the line, so we all hopped in with her and were on our way to the top. By this time it had actually gotten dark, and the Eiffel Tower was all lit up. We enjoyed the view from the top at night of Paris, and were even more enchanted when the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle, as it does once every hour. I have to say that Hayley and Cameron were not as enthused or impressed by the Eiffel Tower as Mom and I were, but I think this was definitely due to their jetlag and exhaustion. After we’d spent some time up there, we decided to head down and get a French crepe. The dessert was delicious, but it definitely reminded me of the last time I was at the Eiffel Tower at night eating crepes, with my sister Madison. I was definitely getting more and more excited for her to arrive.

By this time we were practically dragging Hayley and Cameron along, so Mom and I decided to drop them off at the hotel and then go get some dinner ourselves. A quick trip on the metro landed us back at our hotel, where we dropped off the exhausted siblings. Mom and I had a nice dinner and just enjoyed catching up with each other. Unfortunately when we got back to the hotel, we were met with the news that Hayley’s kindle had been pickpocketed on the metro. It was bad luck, but we didn’t want it to ruin our trip, so we went to bed with plans to continue enjoying the Paris sights in the morning.

The next morning, we had a massive hotel continental breakfast, and were just getting ready to go when Mom asked a crucial question- “Do you all have your passports?” To our extreme dismay, we then discovered that not only had Hayley’s kindle been pickpocketed, but her passport had as well. This significantly shifted our morning plans, as now we had to go to the US Embassy to get Hayley an emergency passport because we were leaving for London the next day.

Although it was a stressful situation, visiting the US Embassy was actually pretty fun. We arrived just as they were closing the doors, which began our lucky streak in dealing with the crisis. We were basically the last people let in. I think the security guards were pretty amused with us because we were so obviously disorganized and in shambles. We did have fun straddling the “French-American” line into the embassy and saying we were in two countries at once. I’d never really visited an embassy before, but it was pretty interesting. As soon as we made it through security we were met with a strong “Welcome home to America” by the embassy guards. It was kind of surreal to be in “America” in the middle of France (does this add an extra country to my count…?)

We had about an hour wait before we realized they’d already called our number, so we rushed up to the counter, hoping they’d still help us. It was here that we’d learned just how lucky we’d gotten in regards to the situation. First of all, had we not discovered her lost passport that day (Friday) before the weekend, we would have been stuck in France over the weekend, our London plans ruined. Second of all, if Hayley had not been 16, or if it had been Cameron’s passport that’d been taken (because he’s under 16), we would have had to wait for my DAD to come to Paris to sign for a new one…once again ruining our plans. Thankfully, it WAS a Friday, and Hayley WAS 16, so the embassy was able to issue her an emergency passport. We left with plans to return an hour later to collect her passport.

We spent our hour walking up and down this Christmas market near the embassy. We bought a few presents and sampled some of the food before it was time to go pick up the passport. With new passport in hand, Hayley (and all of us) were able to breathe a sigh of relief and then actually go back to seeing Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame, which was a pretty good distance from where we were. In trying to find our way over there, we had our second panhandling experience. It began when, as Cameron and I were walking, we both felt some big splats. Thankfully Cameron was able to dodge them, but what do you know it, I ended up with some big fat Parisian bird poop on my head and my jacket.

As Mom and I frantically tried to clean me up, a woman approached us. She bent down and picked up this gold ring from the ground and asked us if we’d by chance dropped it. Since she didn’t speak very good English, I just nodded and took the ring and went back to scrubbing my head. She then turned over to Mom, and asked for some payment for the ring. Mom was so flustered that she gave her a 2 euro piece, and the lady went on her way. Once I’d calmed down and we were walking again, Mom and Cameron were talking about how they were going to get the ring appraised, but I was a little more suspicious. I told them that I thought they’d definitely been panhandled, but they didn’t believe me. As we were crossing a bridge over the Seine though, we saw (guess what?!) another man bend down and pick up a gold ring off the ground and try and give it to a couple. Apparently this is all a big scam that street urchins use to get money from people. Mom was pretty mad that she’d been tricked, so when we ran across the very woman who’d taken our money only 2 minutes later, she (in typical Wanda fashion) marched right up to her and demanded her money back. The lady simply laughed at her and said “sorry” before walking away. Mom was NOT amused.

By this point we weren’t sure exactly where we were, so we decided to get to Notre Dame by metro (taking great care with our purses this time). The metro dropped us off right near Notre Dame, and we went in and were able to enjoy the beauty of the old cathedral. I think this was Hayley’s favorite part of Paris. She and Mom spent a lot of time walking around and enjoying the church. Cameron and I sat and listened to a tour guide who happened to be near us in the church and learned some about the history of the church. Once we’d all seen what we wanted to of Notre Dame, we headed back to the metro, intent on making our way to our last stop of the day, the Louvre.

The metro runs right under the Louvre, so we hopped off and went to buy tickets. While Mom and I were waiting at the kiosk to buy tickets, a man tapped Cameron on the back of the shoulder and offered him an unused ticket. That meant we only had to purchase a ticket for Mom (since because of their age Hayley and Cameron got in free). We turned around to purchase the last ticket, when Cameron was tapped AGAIN and offered two free day passes from an American couple who was done touring. This meant we all got into the Louvre for FREE, which was great! Cameron was pretty proud of himself, convinced that his good looks had been what had inspired people to give us the tickets (of course…) Once inside, we first visited the Winged Victory, where Cameron was more enthralled with an artist doing a sketch of it nearby than the sculpture itself. After the Winged Victory, we headed over to see the Mona Lisa. Like most people I know, I find the Mona Lisa pretty underwhelming, but it was definitely important for Hayley and Cameron to see. After visiting Mona, this put us in the large portraits hall, which houses my favorite thing in the Louvre, the massive painting of Napoleon’s coronation.

This is when I really started having fun in the Louvre. After seeing Napoleon, I guess we all got inspired, because we decided to start going around to every painting and trying to interpret it and come up with all these crazy back stories for each one. I think we all had a good time trying to imagine what the artist was thinking, and using a bit of our imagination to interpret the meaning of every little nuance in the paintings. After the portrait halls, we headed to find the Venus de Milo. We grabbed a few pictures in front of her, and then walked through the Greek sculptures, each of us designating a sculpture of a Greek god as our “own”.

By this time it was pretty late, so we headed out of the Louvre and got to see a gorgeous view of Paris and the pyramid the Louvre’s exit. The whole museum itself is a work of art, and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a trip to an art museum quite as much as I did that one. We headed back to our hotel, where they dropped me off (still sick and exhausted) and went to do some quick shopping. Cameron ended up with some really nice shoes from Paris, a fashionable reminder of his time there.

The next morning we woke up super early to catch our train to London to meet Madison and Dad. Unfortunately, I forgot AGAIN that traveling to London would involve going through security and border control at the train station, so we cut it a little close, but thankfully made our train in time. Once we reached London, we hopped on the tube and headed to Westminster station, near our hotel. Right as we got off the tube in Westminster, who do we run into but Madison and Dad! They were supposed to meet up with us at the hotel, but we ran into each other early! I was so happy to see them. It felt so good to finally have my entire family reunited. I’ve always been close to my family, so being without them for a whole semester has been so tough. Having us all reunited in London was honestly like a dream come true.

Anyway, we headed out of the station and over to our hotel and got settled in quickly before making a plan for the day. After dropping off our luggage and taking a few minutes to freshen up, we started exploring London. Since our hotel was right on Westminster bridge, we headed towards the Abbey and Parliament and took in some of London’s most famous sights. We got the customary phonebooth pictures and had brunch at a little café near Trafalgar Square. Once in Trafalgar Square, we had a lot of fun trying to climb the slippery large lions. Cameron was the first to make the attempt and the funniest to watch. Hayley was the quickest and most limber, and I was the most cautious (I was wearing a dress as well…). After Trafalgar Square, we decided to spend our afternoon at the Tower of London. We had a humorous time bartering the best ticket prices with the saleslady, qualifying Hayley and Cameron as “children” and Dad as a “senior”.

Once inside the tower, we had a lovely tour from one of the Tower’s “beefeaters”. We learned all about its long and bloody history, from stories of Henry VIII and his wives to the mystery of two lost princes. Mom, Hayley, Madison, and I really enjoyed it, but Dad and Cameron lost patience pretty fast. They aren’t as into the whole guided tour thing. Once us girls had had our fill of Tower history, we headed back to the hotel to meet back up with the boys. On our way back, I completely randomly ran into my dear friend from camp, Jenn, who is currently living in London. It was so crazy that I ran into her- we had plans for dinner the next night, but she was randomly walking along the Westminster bridge at the same time we were! As I walked past her we both did a double take and then had a massive hug and reunion. She was on her way to work, though, so we said our goodbyes and looked forward to meeting up again the next night.

By this time it was dinner time, and the boys were hungry. They went and got dinner recommendations from the hotel, so the 6 of us set out for what would be our first family dinner in almost 4 months. Family dinners are something very special and sacred for our family, but as the 4 kids have gotten older, it’s a rare and special occasion when all 6 of us can sit down together. I loved being there with my family and being able to have a great dinner. I can’t believe how lucky I am that my family was able to travel to Europe to be with me. It has been one of the greatest blessings of this trip.

As a sidenote, I should mention that before dinner when we went to the hotel, I got to experience one of the funniest and most satisfying moments of my trip. For those of you who know me, you how obsessed I am with Mexican food. I’d been missing my weekly trips to Moe’s and Rancho, among others, like crazy while I’ve been in Europe. Well, my ingenious sister Madison devised a crazy plan to bring me a burrito across the Atlantic. And her plan worked! It involved a lot of ice and a lot of packaging, but I ate a fresh burrito that night, and my stomach was EXTREMELY satisfied.

Anyway, after our dinner, we all headed to bed with plans to get up early the next morning and do a hop on hop off double decker bus tour. The next morning was pretty chilly, but we were all excited about riding the bus tour, and it did not disappoint. It’s something I would really recommend to do if you are ever in London- it’s a fast, informative, and fun way to see the city. Anyway, we hopped on the bus at Westminster bridge and hopped off at Buckingham Palace, our first stop of the day. There we enjoyed walking around the grounds but unfortunately missed the changing of the guards (it is rather irregular during the “off season”). Mom took some artsy pictures of us in Green Park, and we had a small mishap when we lost Cameron for a good 45 minutes (so typical…) but we all enjoyed it. Our next stop was Harrod’s, which Mom loved the last time she visited and couldn’t wait to show us all around. We walked around the massive “food court” and finally decided to head up to one of the higher floors to engage in that wonderful London pastime, afternoon tea. I must tell you, afternoon tea at Harrod’s was quite a memorable and classy experience. The girls absolutely loved it. The boys, by the end, were about ready to get the heck out of Harrods (I’m not sure what about a massive department store didn’t appeal to them…), so we parted ways with them and planned to meet up at the hotel before dinner. Mom, Madison, Hayley, and I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around Harrods, reveling in the expensive and glamorous clothes and checking out the Diana and Dodi tribute. I really loved it, and it was a special time that I got to spend with my mom and sisters.

Time flies when you’re having fun, so our afternoon at Harrod’s was over pretty quickly, and we hopped back on a bus back to our hotel. There we met the boys and waited to meet up with my friend Jen. When she arrived, we all headed out to a traditional fish and chips restaurant for dinner. It was great to catch up with her and also try the traditional British dish. It was a great night.

The next day was my 21^st birthday! I woke up feeling great and headed down the large continental breakfast the hotel offered. My sweet dad ordered me a mimosa, and I had my first “American” legal drink. After breakfast we walked down to Westminster Abbey, but unfortunately it was closed for visitors, so we decided to take a boat tour on the Thames instead. Afterwards, it was about time for us to head to the train station for Brussels. Mom really had wanted these tea towels from Buckingham palace, so she and Madison made a mad dash to the palace and back just in time to hop the train to Brussels.

We arrived in Brussels a few hours later, where I met up with my dear friend Jake, who’d flown all the way from South Carolina to be there with me on my 21^st birthday. Jake had so nicely picked up a cake from a local bakery, and we all had a nice little celebration at my apartment. My family gave me my presents and I got some beautiful gifts from them, then we all headed out to dinner. It was definitely a unique birthday, but I was blessed to spend it with my whole family and friend.

The next day we met my family at their hotel and toured around Brussels. Personally I don’t feel that Brussels has too much to offer in the way of tourist attractions, but we headed to Grand Place, where we walked around until we found the Mannequin Pis, Belgium’s own personal joke. The fam grabbed some Belgian waffles along the way, and I think they loved them! We then checked out the Brussels museum, and Mom got the idea to buy me some lace napkins for my future house. Belgian lace is quite a specialty, and we spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect napkins (to everyone else's dismay). It was really special to be able to spend that time with my mom, especially since I've missed her so much. It was also special to have her buy the napkins for me. It's definitely a sign that I'm growing up, and I'm really lucky to have a mom who cares enough to help me do it.

After Grand Place, I took my family to Park Cinquantenaire just to look around. We took some pictures there, and then I led them to Maison Antoine, the famous frites stand by my apartment. Not all of them loved my favorite sauce, the Belgian specialty andalouse, but it was really nice to share a bit of my life here with my family by showing them all of my favorite spots. I had some work to get done before my class that night, so my family went back to the hotel and Jake came and took a nap at my apartment. After my class that night, we all went out for one last dinner together. My roommate Sey was able to join us, and I was so happy to have such a great group of people I loved around me. Needless to say, saying goodbye after dinner (they had an early flight in the morning) was really hard, and there were definitely a few tears, but it's only 3 weeks until I'm home for good! Overall it was a wonderful trip with my family and one of the highlights of my time in Europe.