Day 86: The U.S. of A.

Day 86: The U.S. of A.

Word of the day: Соединенные Штаты Америки [Soyedinennyye Shtaty Ameriki]: United States of America

Day 86, the 7th of July! We left the apartment fairly early in the morning to be picked up by our driver (fancy, I know ;) A few weeks back we had bought some floral, short sleeved, typical tourist shirts from a store in Moscow. So, naturally we decided to wear them on our trip back home to the States. Mine was a teal color (hard to see in the picture) and Max's was dark blue. Let me tell you, we were one good looking couple.

At the airport before we left. Of course we had to see one more Russian wearing swimming trunks as everyday wear. Max has this theory that they wear their swimming suits when they travel so that when they land they can go straight to the beach. haha

And we're off!

At one point during the flight Max got up and was gone for quite some time. I was a little concerned, but continued to watch movies and entertain myself for the long flight home. When he came back, he told me to go to the back of the plane and look out the window. So, I got up and checked out what he was so intrigued by and man was I glad that I did. We live on a beautiful earth! We were flying over Greenland at the moment and when I looked out the window, this is what I saw...

It was amazing! After staring out the window for quite some time, I got up to go back to my seat. At first, it was pitch black inside the plane and really hard to see because my eyes were still adjusting, so I had to wait a second. But after a few minutes I was able to make my way back and talk to Max about what we had just seen. I am so grateful for the beauties of this earth, I wish I could just see it all! 

After many hours of non-stop movie watching, we finally landed! Everyone clapped (well, the Russian's did anyway) and then rushed to get off of the plane. What a trip! We were back on American soil and I was super excited to hear someone tell me, "Welcome home!" I know that sounds cheesy, but I wanted someone to say that to me. 

I never really got the, "Welcome home!" I was looking for, but this sign was good enough for me. I was seriously so happy to see those English letters and feel like I was home. This was the adventure I never expected, but one that has forever changed my life. Before going to Moscow, Russia and visiting Seville, Spain as well as Paris, France, Europe was always this unknown place to me. I honestly never really had a strong desire to see the world. I was comfortable where I was at. All I knew is that I wanted to visit Hawaii again and that I would take Hawaii over Europe any day. Now, all that has changed. While I would still love to visit Hawaii, Europe has a special place in my heart. Traveling the world means so much more to me. It is all about putting yourself outside of your comfort zone, getting to know new cultures, opening your eyes to a whole new world, and blooming where you are planted. 

Day 85: Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Word of the day: самолет [samolet]:plane

Day 85, the 6th of July! The day we left the city of love and headed back to Moscow. On our way back, we had to make a stop in Warsaw, Poland. So, technically, we have been to Poland, but we are not counting it ;) I am sure we will visit someday though!

Airport of Paris 

Warsaw, Poland from a distance! I wanted to just leave the airport and explore!

After a few hours of waiting, people watching (We saw this one guy buy a bunch of cigarettes, and when I say a bunch, I mean boxes full of them! It was crazy! People love their smokes I guess), and trying to connect the wifi, we boarded our plane back to Moscow. Once we were up in the air and long gone, Max realized that he had left his case for his glasses in the airport. He wasn't really upset about it though because he thought of it as leaving a little piece of himself in Poland. :) 

Moscow, Russia airport!

After we landed, we took a train to where our friends, Danny and Tim, were living. Before we left for Spain and Paris, they were nice enough to let us leave our luggage at their place. They also made plans with us to stay the night when we got back because our apartment renting period was up and we had no place to stay. Their apartment was really nice. It was probably about twice the size of ours (at least) and the air conditioning actually worked, which was nice for them and a bonus for us when we stayed the night. Trust me, good air conditioning is important when you live on one of the top floors of the apartment building. We spent too many days sweating in our own apartment because our AC did not blow out enough cold air. I even remember when Max told me about the lady that sold us the apartment. He said that she stood by the AC unit, which was really only a glorified fan, and said that the previous tenants got really cold in the apartment. Then she proceeded to shiver to show him how cold it really was. We were not fully convinced, but we took it since we did not have many more options.

After eating some dinner that Danny and Tim had prepared for us, we talked for a few hours and then got ready for bed. We had a long day of traveling ahead of us, so we needed to get some rest. This was a bittersweet moment for me because I knew that I would miss Moscow, but at the same time I was excited by the fact that I would not have to ask Max a million times what the other person speaking a foreign language (that he always understood) was saying. This was our last night in Moscow. 

Day 84: The Eiffel Tower

Word of the day: башня [bashnya]: tower

Day 84, the 5th of July! Today we got up and listened to some music videos on the television in our room. I will never forget a few of the songs that we listened to: Pay Hard by David Guetta, I Need Your Love by Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding, and Papaoutai by Stromae. Great songs! After we got ready, we left our hotel and walked towards the metro to go see the Eiffel Tower. After getting off the metro, we walked through a few parks. During our short walk we saw these awesome little kids playing soccer. Max wanted to join in on the fun!

 

Once we got to the Eiffel Tower, we sat down on the grass, relaxed, and just took the view in. Of course, while we sat there, I people watched and saw a lot of different and interesting things. These kinds of places where tourism is high are some of the best places to people watch. Trust me...

People watching got really interesting as we sat in the grass by the Eiffel Tower. Those pants on that guy were like parachute pants on steroids! My mom thought mine were bad! haha They were doing cartwheels and summersaults and having the best time (even though they weren't all that good) haha

We bought a ticket to walk up the stairs of the Eiffel Tower, but it only went about halfway up because the top required us to buy an elevator pass. Maybe we will go all out and buy the elevator ride all the way up next time. ;) 

There were a lot of stairs!

The views were worth the climb!

The Eiffel Tower's shadow! So cool!

If you look closely you can see a hot air balloon! What a ride that would be!

This is the Eiffel Tower compared to its descendants. It looks small in comparison! There were a bunch of fun facts as we walked back down the Eiffel Tower's stairs. 

Eiffel himself ;)

After leaving the Eiffel Tower, we spotted a really fancy car. Max loves cars, so we decided to document the moment and take a picture :) Then, we walked to the metro so that we could travel to Montmarte, which is a hill that is located North of Paris.  On the top of the hill is a church called the Basilique of the Sacré Cœur. Before we walked up the hill, we stopped by a little restaurant that was recommended to us. We ate some really good salads with homemade potato chips on them...Mmmm. 

Max and his love for cars! It was a sweet ride, not going to lie! 

Got Corn?

Tourists trying to find our way around

Basilique of the Sacré Cœur

Our view from the top of the hill!

It's the city of love, come on, we had to have at least one kissing picture!

You can see the light from the Eiffel Tower

After hanging out for a bit and enjoying the view, we walked back to the metro and ended our second day in Paris.