Twinning in Europe

My latest vistors for the last 12 days were none other than my siblings, Harriet and George! It was Harry's first time in Europe and George's second, so they were both very excited and I think it was a good graduation present from Dad. They flew in and got to Tü on a Thursday and the next morning we took the early TGV train to Paris, Harry's request since she learned french in high school.

I was a little surprised at how much I liked Paris, just like I was with London. Both seem like such big, expensive, and typical/mainstream European cities, which made me hesitant to go, but I really loved both of them. Surprisingly as well, I spent less in London than Paris even though the pound is more expensive than the euro.

Macaroons in Montmarte

Regardless we had a really nice time in the "city of light" (which means enlightenment/knowledge!) and Harry got to practice speaking a bit. My favorite parts of our long weekend was the Eiffel Tower light show that we saw on Saturday and Sunday night, the free walking tour that Harry and I did, and the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Montmartre. We didn't climb up the Eiffel tower, but did climb to the top of the Basilica, which I think was better since then you actually get to see the tower in pictures! I was disappointed by the Moulin Rouge, since I imagined it quite glamourous from the movie, but impressed with the macaroons which I thought I might not love. We managed to fit quite a lot in the almost four days we had there, including two art museums, the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, and got to be in the annual Gay Pride parade which was pretty awesome, especially with all the politics surrounding it in France right now. We experienced that first hand when we saw the anti-gay marriage parade, which was super lame and just a bunch of cars with flags honking up and down the street...

Harry and Jor in front of the castle

We got back to Tübingen late on Monday and spent the rest of their time in Germany, mainly in
Tübingen but also with some day trips. On the 4th of July we ventured to Schloss Lichtenstein, which is quite close, not taking into account the necessary hike up the mountain that I was unaware of, and probably would not have worn flip flips if I had been. That Friday was coincidentally the Sommerfest for the stipendium program I receive for studying here, so I registered us all for the fest, and we got two free bus rides to and from Konstanz, free entrance to the Insel Mainau (a tourist island full of flowers), free mimosas, free dinner, free dessert, and free stolen glasses! It was pretty awesome to see another site in Germany and not have a pay a euro cent to do so. That weekend was also the Stadtfest in Tübingen, so we were welcomed back to a pretty decent hip hop concert in the park, although we were too tired to see much else of the fest. On their last day here, we took the train to Schwäbisch Hall to see my host family and for them to meet my real family. It was a super nice day and we got to swim in their pool and catch up, in German and English for the twins. I didn't realize how much I was missing living with the Grafs until we got there! I'm hopefully going to get to visit again soon for a little while longer too.

On the Bodensee

It was really good to see the twins and manage to be together constantly for such a long time without bickering like we used to, and definitely would have if we were younger. I can't believe that they're heading to college already in the fall, but I think it's good because now we're all experiencing similar things again, and the gap between us doesn't seem quite as big. Our goodbye wasn't too hard though because I will be being picked up at the airport by them in just over a month! Crazy how time flies, and I am sad to be leaving Europe and all the possibilities it holds, but am becoming more and more excited and ready each day to head back to the good ole USA.