Best trip ever!

So, I just got back from my best trip so far! It was 3 weeks through Spain, France, and Switzerland with a company called Busabout. It's like a hop-on-hop-off tour, but through cities and countries throughout Europe. It was a really great way to travel on my own, and I had so much fun!

Cities visited in order of preference, not in the order I visited:

1. Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland-By far the most beautiful and peaceful place I have ever seen. We stayed in cabins in this campground in the most gorgeous valley, I felt like I was in a postcard. Tons of hikes to go on, the highest peak in Europe is there, as well as all sorts of crazy adventure activities, which I will get to later. The Swiss alps made me think of Colorado, and I did not want to leave! Did you know every house in Switzerland is required to have a bomb shelter or else they have to pay extra taxes? Weird, huh...

2. Paris, France-I wasn't too excited to see Paris before I went, but I was surprised to see how beautiful, charming and fun the city really is! Plus, the French people were really nice to me even though I can barely say hello in their language! Which was definately a pleasant surprise since you always hear how rude French people are. They do have a lot of road rage, though... I only had 3 days in the city and one in Versailles, so it was jam packed with sightseeing, but it was so amazing, I didn't mind the exhaustion of running around so much. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't been before! Plus, they have the best ice cream I have had in my whole life.

3. San Sebastian, Spain-Totally gorgeous, chilled out town in the north of Spain, aka Basque country. Lots of good beaches, and Oh, my God! THE FOOD!!! So good!

4. Bordeaux, France-vino, vino, vino. There was a wine festival the day I got there with a LOT of free samples, then the next day I went on a tour of 2 wine chateaus...yummy!

5.Valencia, Spain-a very small town but really beautiful with great warm water beaches. That was near the end of my trip, so I was tired and didn't do a whole lot of sight seeing, but the beach was fine for me!

6. The French Riviera (Nice, Monaco and St. Tropez)-Lots of rich people with nice cars, that's for sure! In Monaco you can rent a Ferarri and drive the grand Prix track. Cool, huh? The beaches are really rocky there, which isn't so nice...why do all the rich people go there if the beaches aren't nice? They must have there own beaches that have nice sand flown in, or something. Saw millionaire bay on St. Tropez...BIG houses. But didn't have time to go to Cannes, which I'm bummed about.

Craziest/funniest/funnest things that happened:
1.I jumped out of a plane at 13500 feet!

2. I went river rafting in the Swiss alps.

3. My toe nail fell off my foot in Paris...horrifying. :)

4. Had coffee with a half Itailian/half Brazilian/French guy who lives in Paris and is in fashion school but draws really nice portraits for extra money. (There's one district in Paris that is known for it's artists, so a big thing tourists get done is get their portrait drawn.) He was really persistent in asking to draw me when I was walking around on day, so finally I said yes but that I refused to pay him, thinking that would get rid of him. Instead he said "ok", and we went to a coffee shop, but he would only draw me as a baywatch-ish cartoon figure. Then he drew a really detailed picture (of no one in particular) with coffee and a spoon. So random...

5. Watched a paparazzi helicopter chasing down boats with famous people in them on the French Riviera. Literally chasing them like it was a police chase or something. Poor millionaires... Apperantly the Hilton sisters were there, as well as P.Diddy being there because his famous white party was coming up, and of course Brangelina were there, and I was in the same places they all were, but somehow I never ran into anyone famous....

Favorite things I did:

1. Skydive/rafting in the Swiss alps
2.Bike tour to Versailles. (on the 4th of July!!) It is absolutely beautiful there...no wonder there was a French revolution though! At the time is was built, it was worth 300 billion US Dollars...back then! Can you even imagine? It was crazy and beautiful. Oh, and Seamus, wherever you are, you need to propose to me there in the gardens, okay? It's beautiful!
3. Bike tours around Paris. A great way to see the city and so much fun!
4. Hiking in Switzerland...did I say it was beautiful there? ;)
5. Beach days in San Sebastian and Valencia
6. Trummelbache Falls in Switzerland-a huge waterfall that drains 3 glaciers INSIDE a mountain! Crazy!

Most disappointing:

1. The French Riviera-I think I was expecting the entire place to be rich, rich, rich, but it instead, it was a lot dirtier than I expected, and I was always worried my purse was going to get taken. And it wasn't as breath-takingly beautiful as I was expecting. I mean it was pretty, don't get me wrong, it just didn't live up to my grande expectations. Maybe the Swiss Alps ruined me for my standard of natural beauty though...
2. Moulin Rouge-it was ok, but I expected it to be really elaborate like the movie was, but instead it's kind of hokey. Plus, it's really expensive and the champagne wasn't great.
3. The day I tried to ride a cable car to a peak in the Swiss Alps it was too foggy to see anything! Arrgh!


So, it was an absolutely amazing trip, I couldn't have asked for any better. It was the first long trip I have done alone, and I absolutely loved it. I think doing the hop on hop off thing was really good for me as a single woman travelling alone, because I always felt like someone was looking out for me, and I always felt safe, but I was able to be really independent at the same time.Plus I met tons of really awesome people that I wouldn't have met otherwise!

Check out this link to see a shorter video of my skydive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc0B7lPCeK4

And this link to see a longer, from beginning to end version of the skydive video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_jnIr_NWE