To-boggan or Not-to-boggan... that is the question

Courtney's Travel Tip #14: If you want to keep a blog you should probably keep up with it on a daily basis or risk making all of your friends angry when you post one that is WAAAAY too long.

So where were we... oh yeah Versailles. It was cold. You got the gist of that right? But we got crepes, a bottle of wine, some fresh baked baguettes and it was all worth while! So we rode around the grounds, got a history lesson from our vagabond of a tour guide, and finally settled down for a picnic of wine, cheese, grapes, and bread. (And let me just say that I conducted my entire cheese buying transaction in French! It was a personal victory for yours truly!) So after the picnic, we finally got to tour the house, and as you expect, it's a huge grand place, hall of mirrors, lots of large ornate rooms, big beds. Yada, yada, yada! You'll see the pics. I fancied myself somewhat of an artist that day. Once you see them you'll agree that I should probably keep my day job.

Once we got back into Paris from Versailles, it was just a matter of whether or not we could stay awake! Both of us were tired and just wanted to get warm.

Courtney's Travel Tip #15: Don't even THINK of getting a fast meal in Paris. It does not exist. And in fact, if you even attempt to ask for fast food, expect a snooty "We don't have that" kind of answer.
Nuff said!

Courtney's Travel Tip #16: I TRIPLE DOG DARE any of you to go to Paris and try to mail something back to the US. Go ahead... see what happens!

Because I'm still not sure what will happen to all of the things I supposedly sent back home. Caz did laundry, I did the mailing. The transaction went something like this:
Me: "Bonjour, parlez vous Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh? Anyone Parlez Engles?"
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh, I'd like to send to the US" (Pointing at two bags full of souvenirs and gifts)
French Postal Worker: "No"
Me: "Uh... Crap"

After that it was a bunch of pointing and blank stares on the part of both myself and the French Postal Worker. I'm still not sure if the package will make it to Orlando, and for all I know it will end up at the French Postal Worker's house (as part of her evil plan to get her grubby little fingers on our stuff!)

Courtney's Travel Tip #17: When a bunch of West African men come running at you full speed with hundreds of Eiffel Tower key chains on a giant rings... don't panic, they're just running from the police.

And that was our experience at the Eiffel Tower! We're leaving the tower, and all of a sudden we hear a massive jingling noise and see about 20 men running at us with their key chains a'jangling. We look over and see a bunch of police men clearing out the area under the Eiffel Tower. I guess I was right to NOT buy 7 key chains for 1 euro... I knew I made that decision for a reason!

Courtney's Travel Tip #18: Wholesalers suck.

All we want to do is shop. Is that too much to ask! We wanted to shop in Paris. Not hard you say? Wrong! We found our way into the wholesale district. We can't spend money shopping to save our lives! Now that we've made it to Lucerne, all the shops are closed on Sunday and Monday. WHY GOD?!?! WHY DON'T YOU WANT US TO SHOP?!?!?!?

Courtney's Travel Tip #19: If you want to feel awkward, just eat dinner in Switzerland and see what happens when the bill comes.

Long blog short, we're not sure if we're supposed to tip or not. And every meal we have is a personal battle as to whether or not to leave a tip and how much. If anyone has travel tips of their own on this subject I'll be glad to accept them!

Courtney's Travel Tip #20: Toboggans are deadly.

Guess what! I climed a mountain today! Okay, so we rode a train up most of it, but we had to walk the last 170 meters. But I was at the top of an Alp today. Yep, it was amazing!

And then came the toboggans... We thought we'd be all sporty and adventurous but keep it somewhat safe. Well I'll tell ya.... Swiss people have death wishes! They have these crazy steep runs without anything on the side of the mountain to keep you from flying off the side. Then you LET Florida girls ride a toboggan without any sort of bunny hills?? WTF Switzerland?! Let's just say that we went down the first set of runs and dragged our toboggans down the remaining half of the mountain. I'm not kidding... HALF OF A MOUNTAIN. But I got my snow day and that's all I cared about!

Tomorrow is the long awaited massage... I can't even begin to tell you how glorious that is going to be!