A Day Trip to Versailles

On my last full day in Paris, two fellow classmates and myself decided to take a trip and go visit the majestic Chateau de Versailles.

For those of you that don't kn ow where Versailles is located, it is in the "western suburbs outside of central Paris" (Wikipedia).
The palace once housed Louis XIV, Louis XV and Luis XVI and his famous wife Marie Antoinette. Valerie Bajou describes Versailles as, "Versailles is a mirage, a sumptuous and theatrical entertainment. It is also a manifestation of glory and power imposed to great extent by art, luxury and magnificence".
 From walking throughout the palace you can see exactly what Bajou is talking about, you can tell that every inch of the palace was carefully though of because hundreds of year later, even though they have touched up the original work, it still looks amazing.

Even though you don't get to go through the whole palace, you get to see majority of it and what really counts.

Like the grand court, the Hall of Mirrors and the Great Lawn.

The only con of visiting Europe during winter is that everything is under construction, so while we were walking around they were cleaning out the infamous fountains.

 One thing that I didn't get to see, was Marie Antoinette's guest house.

Which in reality is actually a mansion on the ground of Versailles, but now I have a perfect reason to go back to Versailles. 

It's worth the trek to see this beautiful palace.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Solo Dolo in Paris Part 2

After giving myself my own little tour, I made my way over to the most beautiful fountain I've ever seen. The Fontaine Saint-Michel is where i met my tour guide Anthony, who is a freelance tour guide in Paris who works for Sandemans New Europe. 

Fontaine Saint-Michel

Sandemans offers free tours all over the world, in cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Jerusalem and New York.

Once everyone arrived, we headed out to start our journey to discover this beautiful city.

Our first stop was the Prefecture de Police de Paris (Translation: Perfect of Police of Paris) which is where the Paris Police Academy, the embassy, Paris court of law an everything government related. It also use to be the castle where the Kings of Paris use to live.

The police Department is located right in the centre of the city on it's own island.

The next stop we made was the statue of King Henry IV, where we learned her was refereed to as the 'Good King' of France.
We also got to walk across the infamous Love Lock bridge. Surprisingly, they started to put up wood panelling against some of the railings because the weight of all the locks were starting to destroy the infrastructure of the bridge. But it was beautiful to see all the locks on it.

Then we made our way to the most beautiful museum I've seen, The Musee du Louvre. 

Even though I didn't go inside the museum, which I will leave for another trip to Paris, the outside is just as beautiful and majestic.

The attention to detail to every inch of the building is incredible, especially the famous triangle in the centre of the court yard, which is actually the entrance of the museum.

  

The sign of the Louvre meant the end of our wonderful free tour that Sandeman offered, so with my trusty map I headed out to find the the gateway of this wonderful city, the Arc de Triomphe.
The best thing I have to say about Paris, among all the previous great things I've said is that the Public Transit system is very easy to understand, even if you don't understand the simplest of French.

Once I arrived to the Arc de Triomphe, I was trying to find how to get underground to actually get under the Arc, but go lost. But nevertheless, I was able to find a group of girls to take a couple of snaps of pictures for me right in front of it.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Solo Dolo in Paris Part 1

Finally, I have reached the city of love, and now I know why people fall in love with it.

Since i reached Paris on a Friday night, I decided to take a much needed nap unlike my fellow classmates who decided to go out on the town.

The next morning I had breakfast at our hotel the Alliance Hotel Paris Place d'Italie and decided to look at their brochures where I found a free walking tour that takes you all over the city of Paris. 

So i got dressed, grabbed my umbrella and headed for downtown Paris.

Even though it was raining the whole time i was there and it was still winter, I totally understood why Paris is one of the top travel destinations in Europe.

The first place I decided to go see before my tour was Notre Dame de Paris. 

I would advise you not to go inside, not to say that it isn't beautiful, but the line ups are really long, and next thing you know you spent the whole day waiting in line. 

But standing right in front of it does do it's justice.

Notre dame de Paris

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Roaming Reims

Our last stop before Paris was Reims.

Just like how Beaune is in the Burgundy regions and they have the largest wineries, Reims is in the Champagne region of France. 

Reims is a small city that holds a lot of history.

Out of all the Cathedral's I've visted in Europe I have to sat the Notre Dame in Reims was one of my favourite.
The architecture and the attention to detail was amazing.

Another historical landmark in Reims is the La Potre de Mars, whcih is the widest arch in the Roman World.

And of course you know I couldn't go all the way to the Champagne region and not taste any champagne.
So We headed to Taittinger to learn about their strong history of wine and champagne making, and we also go to go down to their sellar where they have champagne bottles dated back to the 1700's.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Mustering Through Dijon

Another city we stopped at, on our way to Paris is the City of Dijon.

The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word Dijon, is Dijon Mustard, and that's exactly where I was. the beautiful City of Dijon, is the motherland of delicious Dijon Mustard, they eat it with everything, you can even get little packets of it at burger joints in the city.

In Dijon, you'll see these little owls on the ground, make sure you follow them. Their the symbol of the city, and they act like your own personal tour guide. They all have numbers on them, and if you follow them they'll bring you to all the tourist attractions in the city. The Owls will end you off at the Dijon Cathedral, where if you strike the owl with your left hand it will lead to good luck.

Minus the bad weather, Dijon is a beautiful vibrant city, and If you ever get a chance to go make sure to check out one of the many Dijon Mustard stores, to bring back home as a souvenir.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Discovering Beautiful Beaune

So it's getting close to the end of out trip, and where making our way to Paris where most of us take our flight back home.

On our road trip to Paris, on of the stops we make is the City of Beaune. Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy, so for all my wine lover, you should take a trip down here, and it's also a very cute little town.

Since we arrived on a Sunday, like most of Europe most things were closed, and we were only staying one night, so we decided to take a walk and discover this small little town.

While in Beaune we stayed at Hostellerie de Brentonniere, which is a barn turned into a hotel, it's very cute.

"The largest wineries in Burgundy"

If you ever find yourself in Beaune and you need somewhere to eat, make sure you check out Le Carnot. It's a Brasserie, which is like a bar/pub, where you can get great food at reasonable price, and just as great desserts. Also, since Beaune isn't far from the city of Dijon, you can get a lot of Dijon Mustard, which is why I recommend the burger, trust me you'll thank me later.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Beautiful Barcelona! Part 2

On our second day of being in Barcelona, we decided to  try and find the beach. Even though it was to cool to go swimming in the ocean, as a Canadian being able to go to a beach in the middle of February is a huge thing so we headed out and started walking.

While heading to the beach we stumbled onto so many things.

Luckily for us, we were in Barcelona during their Barcelona Light Festival 2015. during the day they have Fiesta de Santa Eulalia, which is Barcelona's biggest festival for children where they have plays with life size puppets that take up to 5 people for it to work.  Saint Eulalia is a patron of  Barcelona.

As soon as night fall happens, a new parade is started called Firework Small Devils, where little children walk in parades holding fire crackers at an end of a stick parading throw the streets of Barcelona to the sound of bands beating their drums.

It was an experience to watch all of this especially because it was a surprise to us, since we didn't know what was happening.

 Along with being able to see the amazing festivities in Barcelona, we stumbled upon the cities beautiful cathedral, Catedral de Barcelona 

And then we finally made it to the beach!!

It was amazing a beautiful and also weird to be on a beach in the middle of February in Barcelona, Spain in 10 degree weather. IT WAS AWSOME!

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure 

Beautiful Barcelona! Part 1

*sighs* Oh Barcelona, where do I start with you!?
If you don't know where Barcelona is, it's in the amazing country of Spain, in the fabulous continent of Europe.

Since we have some free weekends, for travel. Some of the girls and myself, decided to take a little trip to somewhere where the sun is shining and get out of the cold, so we settled for beautiful Barcelona, Spain.

We decided we wanted to experience a real authentic Barcelona, so instead of staying at a hotel, be decided to rent an apartment, so we heading over to Airbnb, and started to look through all the beautiful apartments until we picked one that was located right off of Av. del Parallel, so we were right in the centre of the city and the Metro was just down the street from us.

   As soon as we got to Barcelona, the first thing we did was go to Plaza Espana Barcelona, which I recommend everyone to go see. It is the heart of the city, you can see Palau Nacional, which is an art museum and also see Barcelona's old bull-fighting ring, which they converted into a mall, you can also pay to take an elevator to the top of the mall or just take the escalators inside the mall to the top and see a beautiful view of the city.

A Taste Like Home

So the other day I was carving a burger, or something that reminded me of North America, Being in Europe for so long has exposed me to so much different types of food, but sometimes you just want something that your familiar with and reminds you of home.

So I set out looking for a nice burger joint or a shawarma shop.

While walking around Strasbourg, I found this cute little burger joint, that didn't blend into the rustic European look of the rest of the block. 

It was light blue with English speaking words and cartoons in the window. So I walked into 231 East Street, a cute little restaurant with Archie comic pictures all over with cute little catch phrases that were in English and reminded me of New York City.

To say 231 East Street was delicious would be an understatement, It was the best burger I've ever had. They even had Cherry Coca- Cola, which isn't available in Canada anymore, so my meal was pretty bomb.

If your ever in France make sure you head to 231 East Street if your looking for a good ole fashion style burger, there a little on the expensive side, but it's worth it, and plus it;s good to help small businesses. 

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Best In Town

Today we got to go to the best restaurant in Strasbourg, France. According to Trip Advisor, La Vignette is #1 out of 1,078 in Strasbourg. Luckily for us La Vignette is only a 20-30 minute walk from the Chateau.

I can now see why La Vignette is rated #1 in the city, it's a beautiful quaint restaurant, where you felt like you were at your grandmothers house.

We started our dinner with a Cream of Mushroom Soup with Croutons in it. I have to say that it was the best Cream of Mushrrom soup I've had, it was so smooth and flavourful.

The Soup was then followed by our main dish, Salmon with diced veggies and red rice with a creamy sauce. I've never has red rice before, but I have to say it will not be my last time, it has so much flavour and it's a whole rice grain so it reminds me of whole grain brown rice. with the salmon and the cream, it was a great combination.

 And for dessert we had Creme Caramel, which isn't my favourite, but it tasted good regardless.
If you ever come to Strasbourg, France you have to go to La Vignette.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Classic Beer

Since we were in Rothaus, Germany, It would be a waste if we didn't go to the Rothaus Brewery for a tour and a taste.

Rothause has been around for 200 years, and is much loved now as it was years ago. Once a small monastery brewery , the brewery is now owned by Rothaus Baden State Brewery.
Because of strict brewing laws in Germany, Rothaus beer is only made of water, malt, hops and yeast.

I've never been to a beer brewery before, so it was cool to see how it was made, and to see how different Rothaus was to there breweries.

After the tour we were able to get a bottle of beer to taste along with a freshly backed pretzel to eat with it.

There were 3 different types of beer we could choose from: Tannenzäpfle, Pils, Eiszäpfle, and the one I had Radler Zäpfle, which has a lemon taste to it.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Snow? But Why!?

On our long journey to Rothaus, Germany, I woke up thinking I was back home in Canada. Driving up the mountain of Black Forest, there was at least 5cm of snow covering the ground, and I was not dressed for this type of weather.

It wasn't our first time in Baden Germany, so I was very surprised when I opened my eyes and all I saw was snow upon snow for miles and miles, I couldn't believe it.

Even though I wasn't ready (in my Kevin Hart voice) we made the best out of the situation.
You would have thought we weren't a bunch of Canadians and that have never seen snow in our lives from the way we were reacting.

But to show you how Beautiful it was, here are some beautiful Pictures.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Maison Lissner

If you know anything about France, then you probably know that it's the land of wine and bread, If Jesus made his way here i'm sure it was one of his favourite places to be.
 With that being said, Studying in France means we do a lot of wine and beer tasting, and by a lot I mean at least once a week.

One Winery that has been super nice to us is Maison Lissner. Since the first week of arriving in France, Maison Lissner was the first winery we were able to wine taste. We have also had the the chance to go to their brewery and see how they process the wine from beginning to end.

A reason why I like Maison Lissner compared to the other wineries we visited is that it's a family business and has been in business since the town it's build in has been founded. The owner Bruno is the 8th generation in his family to own the brewery and he hopes to keep up the tradition and pass it on to his son Theo, who helps his run the business.

Maison Lissner is located in Wolxheim, Strasbourg France.

The city of Wolxheim is a city full of wine vineyard owners, and the whole city shares a 20+ acres of land where they grow their grapes. 

Something that makes Maison Lissner different from the other wineries that we have visited is that they still follow the old fashion way of making wine. They still mostly use wooden barrels to put the wine in for fermentation, instead of the metal ones and they don't disturb the natural essence of the wine, they allow it to flow down to the cellar once the grapes are crushed and any tress and unwanted substance is taken out.

We Also like them because they always give us a lot of wine to taste.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Touched Down in London Town

This past weekend I decided to hop over the pond and visit the Royals in beautiful London, England.

This wasn't my first time to England but will be the most memorable one I have. The last time I was about 5 years old and can only remember what the pictures can tell me.

Luckily for me I have family In England so I was able to have someone take me around town and show me all the tourist attractions and do a little shopping with.

The London Eye, looking over the River Thames

Now I know why my mother always jumps at the chance to travel to England, and why all my friends keep saying why they want to move to London once they get a chance. The city is just so magical.

Everything from the beautiful scenic structures of the buildings to riding on their infamous Double Decker buses to their beautiful accents. England just has so much history that they capture so well it the city.

One thing I wasn't prepared for was how busy all the tourist attractions were and it's winter. You would think it was a nice spring summer day from all the people that were at all the tourist attractions, especially on the London Bridge and Oxford Street, were you can do some good shopping. I also went on the Tube, which is like a maze. It's just as crazy or crazier as the New York Train system, but it was a cool experience, What surprised me the most was how small the trains were.

For a fact I know this will not be my last time n London, hopefully sooner then later I'll be back.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

European Tour

Since I'm going to be in Europe for 2 months, I've decided I wanted to take some trips to some other countries since i'm so close. 

One thing I love about Europe is that you can easily travel to other countries and it won't make a big dent in your pocket.

Currently, I'm spending 4 days in England with some family and I only spent 86€ which is about $150 CAD, which is amazing because flying to another province in Canada is about $300+ CAD and that is all in the same land mass.

Because of the travel airlines like Easy Jet, people can travel all over Europe for very cheap. 

You can choose just to bring a carry-on which is free or choose to pay a couple more dollars to get a checked bag.

Another example of how easy and cheap it is to travel around Europe, is a couple of  girls who i'm studying with in France and I  decided we want to go to Barcelona, Spain. 

We searched for a good deal and was able to get a flight for 4 day at 137£, i'm sure if we tried looking earlier we would have got a cheaper flight, but that is equivalent to $250 CAD.

That makes two plane ticket for under $400 CAD for two different countries.

Taking a plane isn't the only way to travel and get around Europe. A lot of my fellow classmates decided to take the bus, rent cars and also take the EuroRail train to travel to different countries in Europe, and all at a reasonable price.

This is something I wish the Canadian government would do, and consider. If it was cheaper to travel to different provinces in the country i'm sure a lot more people would travel out to those places, just as they do in Europe.

The Transition of Studying Abroad

If you have kids I highly recommend that you allow then to study or just travel abroad.

Even if its for a week, trust me when I tell you it will be the best memory and life experience they will ever have.

They will learn so much about the countries that they visit and also learn a lot about themselves.

Being on this study abroad trip has taught me so much about myself, and discovering the different countries we've traveled to has open my eyes to how people in different countries live and how their way of life is different then the regular North American.

So far I've been to France, Germany and England, and it's cool to see how people react and conduct themselves in public. For example I never realized how loud North Americans were until getting on public transportation in France and seeing how everyone sits quietly on the bus talking to their friend if they are talking, in a quiet in-door type of voice, while us North Americans have a loud almost yelling type of voice. 

Another thing your child will learn while they study abroad is how to live without having their security blanket (parents/family) with them. Since your not working and only spending, you have to learn how to budget your money properly, the last thing you want is to be flat broke before it's time to get back home.

Also, because your living on your own, that means you have to cook, do your own laundry, and grocery shopping, pretty much EVERYTHING your parents (if you were living at home) do but now all by yourself. Which in the end will benefit you more in the end.

Another reason you should allow your child to study or travel abroad is after they get into real adulthood, they may never get the chance to travel like this again. Now at the point in your life where you don't really have bills to pay and you can save all your money to travel before it starts to go to paying for bills and rent.