Helloooo everyone!

So I finally get to sit down and tell you all about my Christmas and New Year.

CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY

Before I left on this trip, I was so worried about Christmas time and being away from home. And almost everyone said to me "you're not going to be here for Christmas!? What are you gonna do!!" True, it is scary being away from home at Christmas time. Christmas for me means beers/champers at 7am, in the pool by 9 and a huge lunch on a stinking hot Christmas day. What does Christmas in Germany entail? Church, dinner, wine and family time on the night of the 24th. Not to mention the temperature of around 12 degrees (which is HOT by Germany's standards). Was I worried? You betcha!

Like everything I've been worried about over here though, it totally worked itself out. My Christmas was amazing! My host parents have an awesome family. While smaller than mine, especially in terms of the kids to adults ratio, it was so nice to be able to bond with a totally different family, try hot Christmas food and sing on the Wii til all hours of the morning. Not to mention my host parents bought me flights to Berlin, for whenever I want to use them. It was just magical. And the kids had a great time and got spoilt. Completely different to Australia? Yes. Did I take it on as part of the experience and appreciate the opportunity to spend Christmas with another family? Of course!

NEW YEARS IN PARIS

Ohh Paris...the city of lights, the city of love and the city that never sleeps. What a pain in the arse you were to get to, an absolute ball to be in and an even bigger pain in the arse to get out of.

I wrote this first paragraph while having a beer waiting for my train TO Paris. Some of you have already read it but here goes..

This is a story I wrote, called "Today is Not My Day" by Kate Rasche

Today is not my f***ing day. Woke up at the arse crack of dawn (5:30a.m.) to get all organised and be able to walk to the train station to catch the train to Pairs, leaving at 7:20. By 645am I was ready and packed, all I needed was my shoes and my passport. Crap, my passport. Where the f*** is my passport. Those of you who have traveled know: your passport is your LIFE. That little blue booklet is the only thing that matters. Glue it to you, shove it down your bra; hell, shelf it if you have to. Just don't ever LOSE it. Cue turning my whole bedroom upside down. The last place I remember seeing it is under my bed. I move my mattress, my trundle bed, my sheets, EVERYTHING. I check through all my clothes, unpack and repack my bag 3 times, check through all my shoes, the kitchen, bathroom, under my cupboard, IN my cupboard, in my travel wallet (which would have been a really smart place to put it in the first place), under my bed again, under all my books and Ireland souvenirs. I was so wishing the kids were awake so they could help, their tiny bodies go places mine just can't. Frustrated, I called Mum. She told me places to look and said "it'll be the last place you look." yeah THANKS Mum. At this stage I've already missed two trains. Getting to Paris a little later than planned wouldn't be the end of the world, but if I lose my passport there will be no Paris for me; it would be straight to the embassy. Finally I FOUND it, around 9am and over 2 hours of looking later. It was in my handbag which I (poorly) cleaned out the other day. I gave it a big kiss! Now to finally hit the road. The best host Mum in the world offered me a lift to the station, what a legend. This gave me time to browse a few shops and buy last minute things and get to the station to buy my ticket.
SO I get to this bloody ticket machine, with ten minutes to spare. This station only has 2 platforms, so I thought "cool, not a problem." Five minutes later I am still trying to buy a ticket to bloody Paris. It was saying some crap about how I had to reserve a seat, so I tried to and it kept saying it wasn't available. AWESOME. I could tell the girls behind me were in a hurry so I let them go while I tried to work out what the hell was going on. Then I decided to try to just buy a ticket to Saarbrucken, as I had to get off there to change trains anyway. So that was successful, but I had to wait a whole hour. By this stage it was pissing down rain. Could my day get any worse? It was 10a.m. And I was supposed to be almost in Paris already. I waited around and ate some food then finally got on the right train. Once I got to Saarbrucken hbf, the platform for paris was directly opposite where they let me off. Cool, my luck is changing! I thought. That was until I read the departure info.. Next train to Paris wasn't for another 3.5 hours. COOL.
I asked someone who spoke enough English to direct me to buy tickets. Found the machines and it kept saying the same thing about having to reserve seats but it wouldn't let me do it. So I went into the real ticket person place. Busting for the toilet by this stage, and it took forever to get served.
"may I please get a ticket for Paris est, the train leaves at 3pm"
"that train is full... Except for first class!"
"you're KIDDING! And how much is THAT going to cost?"
"134 euro"
Oh that's just f***ing great. 50 euro extra for a 1.5 hour train ride I have to wait 3.5 hours for.
"whatever, I'll just take it"
"first class is nice!"
"it friggen better be mate."
So now I'm an extra 50 euro out of pocket, I had to PAY yes PAY 50 cents to use the God Damn toilet, and now after navigating my way to the dingiest, stinkiest, smallest bar EVER I'm having the worst beer I've ever been poured. All I have to say is if I ever make it to Paris, and maybe even my hostel, there better be alcohol somewhere nearby waiting for me.
Au revoir, f***ers.

So after all of this, I ended up going to Starbucks to wait for my train. They had free Wi-Fi so I smashed out a couple of coffees and went to the station. Then I thought to myself... there's something you've forgotten Kate..that thing you need to take PHOTOS! Riddle me this; who the HELL goes to Paris and doesn't take their camera? Oh that's right, me. Between all the effort to find my passport and unpacking my bag so much, I had left it in my room. Well done Kate! Hi-Five. Lucky I had my iPod AND iPhone, so I ended up getting some pretty good photos on that.

I board this train and find someone who can tell me how to read my ticket, which is of course all written in German. Turns out he is sitting next to me. Also turns out he speaks English, German AND French. Not only this, he was headed towards the same line as me. As I had no idea how to use the metro, he helped me out so much and helped me to buy a 5 day metro pass. Henning, you were a life saver! I'm so grateful that after my s***ty day of actually getting to Paris, I had you to put me at ease in this humungous train station. THANK YOU!

The hostel I was staying in was pretty easy to find. It took a good 15 minutes to check in, and I was on the 5th floor AND the elevator was broken. I went into my room and found 2 Aussie girls and 3 American girls. Went to dinner with the Americans (didn't try anything exciting - I was fanging for a steak!)

After this I ventured down to the bar for a beer, wearing my trusty Australia shirt. Within 5 minutes I was talking to an American (Seth) at the bar, within another 5 a new American (Paul) had ventured up. Ended up just chilling with Paul and drinking these s***ty but cheap Parisian beers. There was a pretty cool live band on and heaps of people in the bar. After a while I was like: 'I'm too sober,' to which he replied 'me too, wanna fix it?' NEVER AGREE TO CURING SOBRIETY WITH A CRAZY AMERICAN! Whisky sours, you were the death of me. I woke up SO hungover. Whoever said Americans can't drink never met this guy.

Because I was doing all the main attractions on my Contiki in a couple of days, I wanted to see a few things off the beaten track. So I asked at the front desk for directions to The Catacombs and
Père Lachaise Cemetery where a bunch of famous people, including Jim Morrison were buried. I hopped on the metro and got off at the stop to find the Catacombs. These bad boys are an underground ossuary, so you can imagine my trouble finding them, especially as I couldn't see any signs. So I decided just to go for a walk and hope that I stumbled upon something exciting. I couldn't care less that I was lost as anything; Paris is so indescribably beautiful. You could get lost in a public toilet and still fall in love with this place. Every single building was built with so much intricacy, pride and planning. No stone was left unturned and no detail was missed. It's so amazing.

Eventually I gave up on finding the Catcombs, I'd been wandering around and playing with the Metro for a while now. While we're on the topic; the Metro is seriously the easiest and best thing I've ever used. It couldn't be easier to get from A to B with this thing. I love it. Anyway, so I decided to try and find the Sacré Cœur. I got off at the metro and followed the crowd. I mean this place is huge, it's sitting on top of a hill over looking Paris and you really can't miss it.

So I FINALLY reach an attraction of sorts when this black French man approaches me with a piece of string.

"Bonjour, hello beautiful, sexy girl. How are you today?" As he loops this piece of string around my index finger and begins to plait it. All the while asking me if I had a boyfriend, if I was alone etc etc. I kept asking him what he was doing and if it would cost me any money for this string, and all he said was 'Hakuna Matata, don't be afraid!' So I was like, cool this guy seems nice. He finished doing his thing so I started to walk off, and all of a sudden he and his 6 mates whip their wallets out and start demanding money off me.

"NO COINS, ONLY PAPER."

Those of you who know me know I'm a complete p**** and couldn't fight my way out of a wet paper bag. So naturally I started freaking out. I don't have any money, I kept saying and trying to walk away. They were following me yelling at me in French, so I quickly got my wallet out and gave them a 10, the smallest I had. Then they tried to get MORE money from me. I ran away almost in tears at this point. I was just lucky they didn't take my wallet or the wad of cash inside it. You're probably all thinking 'you idiot, haven't you ever been told about Gypsies in Paris!?' Yes, I have. I've been told about the ones who try to get you to sign petitions; the ones who pretend to drop something to distract you; the ones who do magic tricks on the street...but NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THE STRING GUYS OKAY. And I'm a single white female Australian who happened to learn the hard way, plus I bet you're pissing yourself laughing right now at my misfortune so that's a positive.

The Sacré Cœur itself was magnificent. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos inside, but I will try and describe it in words. Amazing stainglass windows, thousands upon thousands of candles, the most beautiful roof artwork I've ever seen and not to mention an amazing view of Paris from the top.

After this catastrophe I decided to try and find the Père Lachaise Cemetery. I got off at the station and literally walked straight past it. I was kind of but not really following this guy who looked like a tourist and looked like someone who might enjoy a cemetry. I figured he must know where he was going. Maybe I creeped him out or maybe he was following me too, but he caught my eye and I said hello. He was American, thank God! After attempting to speak French all day I was so relieved. Turns out he was going to the cemetry but only after he got some food first. So we decided to go and eat somewhere together. I got to know Brian over some french fries and coke.

After late lunch we made it to the cemetry, and by this stage it was freezing cold, dark and it was closing. We did go for a little walk around but didn't find Jim Morrison's grave; this place was HUGE. While a little creepy at that time of night, it was still beautiful. Brian and I decided we would exchange facebook details and meet back in the morning. We wandered around chatting and I bought him a macaron because he'd never had one before, and that's no way to live.

Made it back to the hostel and decided I would go to the bar for 'just one beer.' Well that logic never worked in Australia and it doesn't work in Europe either. 5 beers later I was feeling pretty damn merry. I started the night off sitting next to 2 Aussie girls from my room. They were cool but they disappeared to bed pretty early. Literally 30 seconds after they left this random Italian guy came and sat RIGHT next to me. And I mean, this seat was pretty big. There was no need to invade my personal space like that! The first thing he said to me was 'I've been watching you all night.' My sleaze radar went off the richter! What a weirdo. I was trying to drop hints that I wasn't interested; but apparently Italian guys don't take hints too well. He kept asking me the same questions: "which club are you going to on New Years?" (Dude, how the hell am I supposed to know which club I'm going to when I JUST got to Paris) and "Is that your Mum and Dad in your profile picture on Facebook?" (Yes, I totally have a picture of my Mum and Dad on MY OWN PROFILE) Aside from all this, he kept telling me how good he was.
"When I surf I'm so good"
"When I drink I'm so good"

Just a tip man, if you're that effing good you really don't need to talk about it! Eventually I made up some bull s*** about going to a table closer to the window because the Wi Fi worked better there. So I took refuge with an Aussie, 2 Frenchies and an American. I told them my story about the creepy Italian guy and they were more than happy to let me hide at their table. I had a spare beer cos it was 2 for 1 so I gave it to the beerless Aussie. From here we just kept buying rounds and somehow ended up in the nightclub downstairs and the rest of the night is a bit of a blur!

The next day I met up with Brian at the front of the cemetry, we walked around aimlessly talking about absolutely everything! Then we decided we should actually find Jim Morrison's grave, which was the aim of the game. You aren't an easy man to find Jim, I'll give ya that! Nice grave though. Then we went to find some lunch, and figure out where I needed to be for my Contiki. Brian the sweetheart came with me all the way to the street my hotel was on! Well and truly out of his way :) What a legend!

I went into the hotel lobby and found a bunch of people who were also meeting the Contiki which actually started in London. They were a mixture of Aussies and Americans, very cool and they listened to all my stories so I was happy. I met my roomate Sam, Aussie and pretty cool girl! Then we went on our Tour of Illuminations of Paris. I actually have NO words for this. Sorry but Paris by night is just...something you will have to get off your arse and see for yourself! We were let off the bus at the top of the Champs-Élysées and by this stage I was with Kenny and saw a lost looking Canadian, whose name I won't disclose on here! ;) Lucky I love you Geeze. We wandered off to get a Crepe and took a ride on the Ferris wheel, which provided awesome views of the Eiffel tower and Champs-Élysées. Then we hopped back on the bus, saw a bit more of Paris and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we took a tour of some perfumerie. It smelt good. Then somehow, and I don't know how, but Kenny, Geeze, Mary, Leyna, Keena, Holly and I ended up together, and stayed together for the rest of the tour. YOU GUYS ARE THE BESTEST! I miss you all so much already. With these awesome people over the next two days I saw the Arc de Triomphe, River Seine, a lot of the Champs-Élysées and waited in line over 2 hours to get to the top of the Eiffel tower. Waiting in line is a lot more fun when you have an iPod pumping Parlez Vous Francais and Niggaz in Paris, and having dance parties in the middle of the line. There's no 6 people I would rather wait in such a long line with. The view from the top of the Eiffel tower was absolutely, incredibly, unbelievably beautiful. And the 10 euro champagne to go with it was the icing on the cake!

Over my contiki some pretty awesome things happened

Marriage proposal - Some guy from a souvenir shop wanted to marry me because I came from Australia. He couldn't afford to move to Australia, but he could afford to buy me any ring I want and give me anything. Naturally I accepted his proposal.

French waiter at our included dinner - Out of all the girls in the restaurant he chose me to swoop on; asked my name, if I had a boyfriend and kept refilling my wine glass. Now that's my kind of man!

French army wandering around with their big guns - What can I say? I can't help but stare when they walk past in their uniforms, straight faces on and big black guns held at their front. Nothing sexier if you ask me!

Dinner in the latin quarter - again, sexy French waiters, delicious food and the best dressed guy I've ever seen wandering around with a guitar and bugle, singing Hallelujah. He was awesome.

NYE itself was a sick night, b****es! The girls (Holly and Leyna) and I got ready together while Geeze watched (what a creep! ;) ) This was where I discovered Holly is an American version of me, we became partners in crime. We both led a dance party on the contiki bus to Parlez Vous Francais on our way out (although not many people joined in, BORING!) and danced together all night at the club. We were home by 2 and in the hotel room together, all of our group having a room party.

I had to say goodbye to all my awesome friends the next day, they left at 8ish. SAD TIMES! This is the absolute worst thing about travelling, next to not being able to wash your clothes whenever you want to. Saying goodbye to all the amazing people you meet.

I hung around until 11ish and then made my way to the Gare de Lest to catch my train back to Germany. Long story short, I had the wrong platform and missed my train. COOL. It was like getting there all over again. I went into the info desk and they said the next train I could get on wasn't until 7pm, and it would cost 100 euros to change my ticket to Luxembourg. I was so so tired and sick, I just decided to go back to my original hostel and catch the train the next morning.

I went down stairs to use the Wi-Fi; there were a lot of visibly hungover people in here, myself included! Striked up a conversation with a hungry American named Alex and we decided to go and grab some dinner. He was equally as awesome as everybody else I'd met! And a massive Simpson's fan, which is always a plus. Only s*** thing was he was catching the train to Barcelona that night, but we still had a good yarn until then.

The next day I got up super early and made my way to the Gare de Lest to hopefully, FINALLY get back to Germany in one piece. s***, I've lost my ticket. Along with the receipt which proves I even bought a ticket. Also I have the worst cough and headache of all time by this stage. Cost me 70 euro to buy a new ticket but hey - I made it to Germany, alive and not so well, after having one of the best weeks of my life.

I have missed a LOT. So so much happened this week and all I have to say is bring on the next trip! It's great to be home in Germany with my host family once again though. I'm definitely ready for a great night's sleep. But as with last time I will give a shout out to all the awesome people I met.

Paul - Never drinking with you again dude, thanks but no thanks for all the Whisky Sours and for being among my first friends in Paris

Brian - You were a true gentleman and a pleasure to be around. Thank you for having a bourbon with me to honour my Opa, he would have loved you! I really hope we see each other again soon

Kenny - You are awesome, try to stop losing all your expensive belongings though...loved how we kept losing you on all our trips, and how drunk we were all the time. I'll be seeing you in America!

Geeze - You sexy, arrogant Canadian you! You had me at: "I live 20 minutes from Justin Bieber." Definitely make up that bed for me, I'm coming to town!

Leyna: You are so sweet and happy all the time. You hit it hard on NYE, good girl! I wouldn't lead a sing along for anyone but you. Miss you already and when I come to the States expect to see me!

Holly - Definitely seeing you again sista gurl! You and I are two peas in a pod. Thanks for letting me pass out in your bed, and making me pretty for NYE and just generally being awesome

Mary - You're a crack up! I love that you love your dog as much as I love mine. You were a lot of fun and I'm sad I missed the subway story

Keena - entertaining...I'll just leave it at that!

Sandra - You are everything I look for in a friend and more! Move over b****, I'm coming to Wales

Alex- I'm very glad I met you, very easy to talk to and you love Aussies which is a plus for me. Simpsons marathon one day soon, and I hope you find your phone in London

Well that's it from me, I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed taking an hour and a half to write it. Paris is amazing - nuff said. It's gotta be seen to be believed.

P.s. I'm aware the photo has nothing to do with the trip, it wouldn't let me upload a picture of Paris for some stupid reason!