7/22/11- Last Full Day in Denmark

Today will be our last full day in Denmark. We slept in until the late morning before getting ready for our trip into the city to visit Ani's brother at his office, (BIG). The architecture firm is one of the more popular in Denmark and Armen has been working there for four years. The office layout was very open and the employees were all very friendly. We also met some product designers who share the office space with the architects and bought some super cool Danish Design headphones. We're getting ready for a big Armenian food party tonight where we'll hang out with a bunch of Danish architects.

This has been an awesome trip and I hope you enjoyed following my experiences. I'll try to post tomorrow and if I don't get a chance we'll see you all at an engagement party very soon!

7/21/11- Hanging Out in Copenhagen

Today's weather wasn't as nice as our first day so we made the best of it. We trained into downtown Copenhagen in the early afternoon and grabbed street hot dogs before walking around the shopping/eating area. The raining was relentless so Ani and I decided to do a little bar hopping. We took a picture at each of the bars (below) and visited the Guiness Book of World Records museum. Unfortunately, the Guiness museum was a little disappointing...

Around 5:30PM we made our way back to the train station to meet Ani's brother Armen. From the station we went south of Copenhagen to meet Armen's host parents from his time in Denmark as an exchange student in 2005-2006. Per and Marianne, (our hosts), made a delicious traditional Danish meal and we caught the last train back to Hellerup, (where Armen lives, north of Copenhagen). We have no formal plan for tomorrow but we plan on having a big party at Armen's apartment tomorrow night!

7/20/11- Arriving in Denmark

This morning we woke up at 4:30AM to get an early start on our travel to Denmark. Arriving in Copenhagen around 9:30AM we were greeted by Ani's brother, Armen. We came back to Armen's apartment just north of the city center to get oriented and then trained back to downtown Copenhagen to see the sights. We weren't really familiar with the monuments in the area and were more interested in people watching and window shopping. While walking we had a frozen yogurt, sanwich, and stopped at a microbrewery called Brew Pub for a microbrew sampler. Returning home we met back up with Armen to get dinner at an all you can eat sushi restaurant before calling it a night and catching up on blog work! (We napped a little today too so hopefully we have a little more energy for adventuring tomorrow!)

7/19/11- Rainy Day in Paris

Fortunately, we avoided rain for the last two days but the heavy clouds finally erupted. In the chaos of the rain we made it out to a bakery to get some pastries for breakfast and then scurried back to the hotel. We hung out for some time in our room before running out for a pizza lunch. Following lunch we brought some wine back to the hotel room to drink while I worked on some final school projects. The rain broke around 7PM which gave us a window of four hours to stroll around Paris before our early departure on Saturday. We walked across the Ile de la Cite to the Right Bank and strolled up Rue Rivoli to the Louvre and then up through the Louvre Gardens and the Champs Elysee. We returned back to the Latin Quarter for a kebab dinner and then to the hotel to get a little sleep before our 7:30AM flight. Off to Denmark tomorrow!

7/18/11- Ani and Jordan Get Engaged!!!

As most of you already know, Ani and I got engaged on Monday. The day started out a little overcast and we weren't sure how much we'd be able to do if it started raining. We set out from our hotel around 8AM and grabbed some croissants on our way to the Louvre. Little did Ani know, but I had planned a little surprise for our river crossing. As we crossed the Pont Des Arts bridge over the Seine River, Ani noticed the hundreds of locks bound to the bridge fences. Slowly walking across the bridge I explained the story of the "love locks." [ Love locks are placed on the Pont Des Arts bridge as a symbol of couples' undying love for one another. After linking the lock on the bridge fence the couples throw their keys into the river to complete the bond.] Toward the middle of the bridge I suggested that Ani take a picture of the Louvre and before she could snap a picture I surprised her with a lock with our names written on it that I had purchased the day of her arrival to Paris. As I held her in my arms I asked her to marry me. We locked the lock on the bridge, threw the keys into the Seine and sat and talked on a bridge bench for some time. After taking a few pictures we decided to celebrate before going to the Louvre. We stopped by a convenient store for some champagne and made our way to the Luxemborg Gardens near the Pantheon, (there is a picture of us in the gardens below).

After spending a few hours in the gardens we made our way back into the city to see the Louvre followed by dinner in the Latin Quarter. Unfortunatley, since I was in Europe for two weeks before Ani's arrival I chose to bring the wedding band and to give Ani the engagement ring upon our return. We'll make sure everyone sees the engagement ring soon!

7/17/11- First Day in Paris

We spent the entire day visiting all of the popular tourist attractions in Paris. Around 9AM On our way to the Chatelet metro station Ani and I visited the Notre Dame cathedral and then grabbed croissants before traveling north to the Arc de Triomphe. Recognising that today may be our only day of decent weather when we visited the Eiffel Tower we decided not to go up because the lines would have taken a good two hours to get through. After taking a few pictures from the ground we made our way to a nearby port to embark on a boat tour of Paris from the Seine River. From the Seine, as many of you know, we were able to see the Musee d'Orsay, Louvre Museum, French Parliament, Notre Dame, and other popular attractions. Following our riverboat tour Ani and I walked from the Eiffel Tower port to the Ile de la Cite, (the original location of the heart of Paris, also where Notre Dame is located), and we caught another metro train to the Sacre Couer cathedral. The area around Sacre Couer was filled with many cafes, street artists, and souvenir shops. Scaling the 300 steps up to the dome of the cathedral we experienced a panoramic view that I would argue is better and less expensive than the Eiffel Tower. Right now we're hanging out at the hotel and regrouping before dinner. Again, I'll try to get pictures up in a couple days.

7/16/11- Meeting Ani in Paris

I woke up early this morning to catch a train to Paris with two other classmates. We arrived in the city around 11:30AM and parted ways. I set off on my own with a map to find the hotel, Villa Pantheon, which is located in the Latin Quarter of Paris. After checking in I took some time exploring the adjacent areas and stocked up on water, snacks and wine for our room. A little after three o'clock I set off to meet Ani at Charles de Gaulles airport with a beautiful sunflower from Maison de Fleurs, (translated, House of Flowers). Once I received Ani at the airport we made our way back to the Latin Quarter to freshen up. Since it had started raining Ani and I caught dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. We split a delicious margherita pizza and parmesean salad. Returning to the hotel we drank some Bordeaux wine and tinkered on the internet before going to sleep around 10PM. Tomorrow we will visit most of the tourist attractions and keep our fingers crossed for good weather!!!

Sorry for no pictures/videos. The internet at our hotel is merde, (translated, sh*t), I'll try to get some stuff uploaded for you guys when we get to Denmark.