To start off Semana Santa, I had two days in which I was by myself in Palma to explore some of the activities that were going on. A lot of my friends left on Wednesday night (4/1/15) or the next day. That Thursday (4/2/15) I went to one of the procesiones that was occurring during this week in preparation for Easter Sunday. This was a really neat cultural experience. I only stayed for about two hours, but what made this procesiones unique was that there were floats that were either pulled or literally carried by people underneath them. These floats depicted Jesus, Mary, or other religious symbols. The other part of the procesiones was that different churches or religious organizations dressed up in different colored clothes that honestly look like ku klux klan costumes, but that is far from what they are. Haha. I'll make sure to post some photos under the photos tab. Some of the people were even not wearing shoes. This is done to symbolize some of the pain that Jesus felt.
My family arrived on Saturday in Palma. We walked just about everywhere on this day. We did some shopping, ate a ton of good food (We ordered so many pastries at one of the bakeries that I go to here in Palma. I wanted them to try everything. Haha.) , and of course caught up on what I was doing here and what was going on back in Indiana. On Sunday, we went on the hop on hop off bus here in Palma. That night, we had a flight to go to Dublin, so the next morning we started off our two days stay in Dublin.
Dublin: On Monday (4/6/15) we did the hop on hop of bus. These busses are such a great way to see the city in a short amount of time. We started our day off a little later so we could catch up on some of the sleep that we lost. We stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin which is a historic Marriott property. By far, this was my favorite hotel of our trip. We got a free Irish breakfast buffet the both days that we were there. Unfortunately we could only enjoy it one day. With the hop on hop off bus we stopped at the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery. We couldn't do as many things as we would have liked, due to my time for scheduling for my Purdue classes being during the middle of our day. But, that night we got tickets to do a night bus tour with a tour guide that told us a lot about the city and even sang some Irish songs to us while he played his guitar! The next morning was an early one for us. This day we had scheduled a rail tour to the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, and Galway. We took a train to Limerick Junction, got onto another train, then boarded our tour bus for the day and started our journey by stopping at Bunratty Castle. The Irish landscape is sooooo gorgeous! We saw so many different shades of green. But, the highlight of the day was definitely the Cliffs of Moher. Erin, Devyn, and I wanted to take pictures close to the edge but Mom freaked out a lot when we took a few pictures. She kept telling us to get back from the edge. Haha. No Ravers were harmed in taking any pictures on our trip. :) We got back to Dublin late that night and went straight to sleep. The next morning we had an early flight to Paris.
Paris. We arrived in Paris on Wednesday morning (4/8/15). We got to the hotel after what felt like the longest taxi ride ever feeling very hungry and needing to change into our dresses for the day. (That night we had reservations at the Eiffel Tower for dinner). Our hotel that we stayed at in Paris was called the Hotel du Louvre, which is also another historic property but through the Hyatt brand. The hotel was right next door to the Louvre! You could step out onto our balcony and look up and down the street and see the Louvre buildings. This day we went on the hop on hop off bus as well as the hop on hop off boat. This way Dad, Erin, and Devyn could see a majority of the city before they had to leave the next morning so that they could get back to Indiana in time for color guard practice on Friday. One of the highlights of this day for me was that we visited the famous love locket bridge in Paris and even purchased a lock, placed it on the bridge, and threw away the three keys that came with the lock into the Seine river. The other highlight was getting to eat in the Eiffel Tower for dinner. We had such a fun time at this dinner. We had our own mini photo shoot at dinner. A man with a very professional camera came around to each of the tables and told us to pose in a bunch of different ways. We thought this was very funny and couldn't stop giggling as he told us how to pose. We returned to the hotel very tired and full. The next morning was when Dad, Erin, and Devyn left for Indiana. This meant it was a girls weekend from Thursday to Sunday for Mom and I. On Thursday, Mom and I continued to see Paris with the help of the hop on hop off bus. We saw so many different things. We went to Notre Dame on this day. The stained glass was just gorgeous. We also went to the Fragonard Museum where we purchased some French perfume. This night for dinner, we also had the best meal of the trip. We went to a seafood place where we got honestly the best price for the amount of food that was given to us. The next day we went to the Louvre. There were honestly so many things to see in this museum! We ended up staying in there for about six hours just taking everything in. I am very glad that we spent the extra money to get audio guides for the Louvre because all of the side descriptions on the works of art were all in French. So there was really no way to know any history about the works without our audio guides. The audio guides were Nintendo 3DSs. I thought this was very cool, mom on the other hand, not so much. Haha. She got very frustrated with it. We also purchased macaroons on this day. (Many were purchased throughout our stay in Paris. Macaroons are just so good!) On Saturday we went to the Palace of Versailles and shopped along the Champs d'Elysees. The Palace of Versailles was gorgeous! We spent extra money to see the gardens which I think was a very smart choice. You got to completely see the back of the palace and see a portion of the gardens. They were so massive! If we had some more time there, it would have been nice to walk around a bit more. When we got back to Paris, Mom and I decided to do a bit of shopping. We went into the Longchamp store and a couple of other stores along the Champs d' Elysees. Mom purchased a Longchamp bag that was a special pattern for the city. We also went into the oldest macaroon store (Laduree) in Paris. These by far were the best macaroons that we purchased. We got back to the hotel after dinner earlier due to having to get up early for our flights. Sunday (4/12/15) ended our vacation. Mom and I shared a taxi until her terminal and then I continued on to mine. The Charles d' Gaule airport is huge! Mom and I were technically in the same terminal but on two different sides of the street. She was in 2E and I was in 2F. I got back in Palma mid afternoon and spent the rest of the day unpacking and just relaxing. I was very exhausted. In all, I had a great trip and am so very happy that my family was able to visit me half way through my study abroad.
I have 2 and a half months left here in Palma. This next month is going to be filled with projects and exams. Then after that comes working five days a week. So I will really only have my weekends to explore Palma and Mallorca. Time is flying by so quickly. I can't wait to see all of my friends here soon and to be able to tell them about all of my experiences and about my trip in person. For all of the Boilermakers that are reading this, good luck with finals in these next couple of weeks! So from my side of the world, hasta luego and until next time!