Up high in the Alps tonight! Left Geneva early this morning, nice city but I was good and ready to get on up into the mountains! I took the cable car up to the small town of Gimmelwald, and I me small! I checked into my cute hostel, a rustic inn that has breathtaking views looking out into the valley and at the mountains across the way. I plan on taking the able car up to the peak of Schilthorn tomorrow, I'm thinking I am going to take the early bird cable car and get breakfast at the peak, which is where they filmed on of the James Bond movies. The inn keeper said that I would probably hear avalanches tonight, but not to worry, they take place across the valley! I will be posting pics tomorrow once I summit Schilthorn, and I plan on taking a few different hikes during the day tomorrow! Until then, hope everyone is doing well!

What a difference a short train ride makes. Last nights hostel looked out into the city of Lyon, while tonight's has beautiful views of Lake Annecy with the French alps rising in the background, snow capped peaks visible. It is beautiful, and the towns is finally just that, a town, without the hustle and bustle of Lyon and Paris. Last night in Lyon was great again though, with my friend Nick again taking me and his two friends, Elodie and Melissa, out to dinner at an old Lyon restaurant Brasserie George's. It was great, and I was serenaded by the whole place for my "birthday", which is actually in August. Nick said he really just wanted me to see the traditional birthday singing and clapping! We then walked along the Rhone river and called it a night. I left early this morning and got to Annecy around 3, and with help from my dad, was finally able to find my much elevated hostel. I have since just been taking in the views, waiting to check in and then go back down towards the town for the evening, where I may meet up with one of Nick's friends living in Annecy. My priorities now are to see this beautiful town and do some real laundry, not the sink kind, I'm running low on clean shirts. Other than that I hope to snap so photos of this beautiful place and post them soon, and most likely will be headed to Geneva sometime tomorrow. I'll keep y'all updated, and I hope everyone is doing well!

Hello again, writing from Lyon today. What an amazing city, withso much hidden history! My time here has been brief, but last night I got the full cultural experience thanks to a helpful guy in the cellphone store. I was trying to buy a prepaid cellphone for over here, and was really struggling to communicate with the salesperson, not speaking much French at all. Then, someone came in and offered to help since he spoke English. We started talking, and he said he had studied at UVa for a year abroad! Small world huh? Well we figured out the phone, then he asked if I had plans or would like to go have drinks with him and his friend. I agreed and we went to a small restaurant, where we had some nice French wine. Following that, we met some more of his friends, who were all awesome, and many had actually visited UVa, and some of the girls remembered house names, ha. Well, we all then went to dinner, at a small unknown real French restaurant, with true, old French food! We had a great time, and the food was fabulous! We were all laughing, and thankfully they all spoke pretty good English. After leaving, we walked the streets, getting the history of Lyon, where Napoleon came into town, the medieval ages, and other interesting things. We then went to a club where I introduced a few of the girls to swing dancing(the songs were all American swing songs, it was perfect). The group then walked back with me, and made sure I made it to the hostel, we were a bit concerned about an 11 curfew but it tuned out the curfew was 1, so we were fine. I hope to met up with them tonight again, for more sightseeing. Today I did a little laundry, and walked around a bit more, now eating a little cafe! I'm still posting pics to my twitter, so check that out! Hope y'all are doing well!

Been a while since my last update, and now I am officially on my own. Two days ago, after Versailles, Mary and I went to he Louvre, and we're able to see some of the most beautiful works of art known to man! I particularly liked the Italian renaissance paintings, and the Venus di Milo. After that, we got dinner a cool downtown restaurant across from the Louvre, and then called it a relatively early night. Yesterday morning was hectic, trying to get our stuff packed, get Mary on the train to the airport, and I was moving to another hostel that was a lot cheaper. Once Mary left, I took a metro train to my new hostel, and got off in the middle of chaos. Apparently surrounding the stop was a gigantic marketplace, and I had everything on my back, so it was quite a chore to make it through. After about thirty minutes of walking in circles, I found the hostel, checked in, and wanted to get into somewhere with some open air. I left and headed to the Eiffel Tower, and decided to go up. The line for the lift was nearly two hours, so I walked, which was a great choice. No line and enjoyable views the whole way up! I got to the second level and then from there you can only take the lift, so I hopped on and rode up to the top, which was beautiful! It allowed me to see how expansive Paris really is, with city stretching on for miles, and countless numbers of historic, awe inspiring sights housed below! This has by and far been my favorite part of the whole trip, and each level offered something different. After the tower ride, I was unsure of what to do, so I decided to just read my book and relax in the gardens surrounding the tower, which was amazing. Spring has sprung over here, with the flowers blooming and grass green, it's beautiful! I actually picnicked in the gardens for dinner, with a baguette, some turkey, an apple, and nutella, which goes great with baguette. Following my picnic, I headed for the Champs d' Élysées, which was stunning after dark. I walked towards the Arc d' Triumph, mostly just people watching and window shopping on my way. The city of lights definitely shines brighter after dark! Finally made it back to the hostel, which has been interesting. Trying to communicate with my roommates to figure the appropriate hostel behavior was interesting, since none spoke much English. After a good night of sleep, here I am, and I am off to Sacre Couer, the church on the hill above Paris. Other than that, my plans are open for the day. I hope everyone is doing well, realize that post was extensive, but check out the pictures I've also posted, which I am doing through my twitter until I figure out how to post from my iPad on this site. Twitter link: https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/ Freddie

Whew, what a couple of days! Finally found some Wifi, at a McDonalds outside of Versailles, who would have guessed! Yesterday, Mary and I toured Notre Dame, Musee d' Orsay, and had a great Parisian dinner on Rue Cler. We ended the night strolling under the Eiffel tour and then struggling to find our hostel in the nighttime. Today we woke up early, grabbed a warm baguette, and got on the train to Versailles. It was unreal, and I kept having to remind myself that it wasn't some Disney inspired park, but a real palace, constructed by a King, and a rather interesting one in Louis XIV. The gardens were absolutely wonderful, and many of the flowers were just blooming. We have been blessed by great weather, and there was not a cloud in the sky. We are both pretty wiped out, but are planning on going to the Louvre and Champs-Élysées tonight before Mary leaves. I'm hoping to find some more free hotspots over here, there seem to be a shortage. I will update again soon, along with pics once I download them!

Whew, after a Delayed flight out of Norfolk, had to run to the gate to make our connection to Barcelona! Hope our bags ran as fast as we did! Not sure what wifi will be like when I land in Paris, but I'll try to get another post as soon as I can, hopefully with some pics!

Day One: Have to start somewhere, the blog is very boring right now, but thanks for checking it out! Leaving in a couple of hours for New York, then on to Barcelona, then another flight to Paris. All packed up and ready to roll. I will start making the blog more exciting once I get some real pictures and such, so check back then.

In Him,

Freddie