Europe for the Summer

While studying in Paris, our class went on a overnight trip to the Loire Valley to visit the French countryside known for its castles and gardens. We visited three massive castles and explored their gardens.  The Gardens of Ch ât eau de Chambord    Ch ât eau de Chambord One of the rooms of the castle   Wine and cheese tasting  View of Château de Chenonceau from boat tour  Garden in front of Château de Chenonceau Maze outside of Ch âteau de Chenonceau Centerpiece of the maze  Pictures from the different gardens at the International Garden Show

I am finally getting a chance to upload pictures to my computer and post pictures from my weekend trips during the last 4 weeks of my study abroad.  A couple years ago, my dad mentioned his coworker wanted everyone to come to the FIFA World Cup in Russia and stay with his family. While most of his coworkers backed out, my parents still met me in Russia for the weekend. I flew from the Paris airport to St. Petersburg with lots of excited Morocco and Iran fans. When we landed in Russia, they started chanting and it was the beginning of a crazy weekend.  My flight arrived around 11:30 at night and it was still light out. By the time we got to our hotel, it had gotten a little darker but not pitch black. I went to a bar near the hotel with my parents and around 2am we noticed it started getting brighter. We went outside and walked around some of the bridges, watching the sun rise until almost 3:45am. It was unbelievable to watch the sunset and then sunrise just hou...