Saturday March 19, 2911
Following the weekend of my helicopter jumping escapade it was finally spring break and I was headed off to paris with Skylar, Inbar, Stephanie Ashley and Daphne....however Daphne booked the wrong flight so she didnt get in till a day later! We packed up our tiny Ryanair approved size suitcases and were on our way!
(Ashley and I on the train to Pisa!)
(On the plane!)
A short flight later we had arrived in Paris! Since we took the cheap airline that meant that we landed at an airport nobody had ever really heard of about an hour outside of central Paris sooo this meant we had to take a charter bus to a bus station further in town and then figure out how the metro worked to finally get to our hotel! Luckily for us, Skylar was meeting up with her friend Chanell who is a student in Paris and had been there since August so she knew her way around pretty good! She directed us in the right direction of our hotel and then we were on our own to find the actual hotel....which was not easy especially in a place where none of us spoke the language! After going up to several different people that look at least semi normal and not like creepy killers that would follow us to our hotel and hold us hostage, we found a nice couple who lent us their map and pointed us again in the right direction and we finally made it to the room and passed out because we had a fulll day of sight seeing planned for early the next morning!
Sunday March 20, 2011
After indulging in our hotels included breakfast, which consisted of a mini fruit cup and famous French begets we hit the streets.
(Inbar, Ashley, Stephanie and I about to take over Paris!)
The first stop on our huge list of sights to see was the Notre Dame wich convieniently was the landmark that helped us to find our hotel! The first day we just admired it from the outside but the second day we decided to take it a step further and walk through it!
(Outside the side of the Notre Dame!)
(Notre Dame!)
Next we were headed towards The Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and of course take tons of pictures outside the glass pyramids!
(Bridge)
(Outside of the courtyard thats outside of the Louvre!)
(Me out in courtyard of the Louvre!)
(Outside of the pyramids!)
(some of the roommates!)
(The Louvre Musee!)
The line for the Louvre was not as bad as we expected, we made our way in and got free tickets into the actual museum where the Mona Lisa was!
(Me with the Mona Lisa!)
(Sign for the Mona Lisa!)
(In front of a Michael Angelo painting...a huge one!)
After wondering around the Louvre for some time and snapping a million photos we headed on to our next stop on the list, the Arc de Triomphe. Before finally getting to it we made numerous stops on the way for some photos as well as stopping in almost ever store on the Champs Elysee which is a road leading to the Arc which has all of the best shopping in Paris.
(In front of the Arc de Triomphe!)
(Beautiful!)
(This would be one of the most dangerous round-abouts in the world...8 people die a year trying to cross it......and we did it and survived!)
After our round-about crossing escapade we decided it was time to re-fuel and grab so lunch so we met up with Skylar and her friend in the Jewish quarter to eat some famous Falafels which were absolutely amazinggg!
(Extremely crowded Jewish Quarter)
Once our bellies were full it was time to head to the one thing that Paris is known for...The Eiffel Tower! We went with Skylars friend and some of her fellow study abroad friends found a nice spot to sit and soaked in the fact that we were just "hanging out" right next to the Eiffel Tower!
(The Eiffel Tower!)
(Skylar and I with the Eiffel!)
We hung around the Eiffel Tower chatting and people watching for so long that before we knew it...it was dinner time! A group of guys that study in Paris were sitting with us by the Eiffel Tower and suggested a restaurant that was of reasonable price with great food so we figured why not lets try it out! We should of known from the second we got in line that a group of young American girls were probably not going to get the greatest treatment. We were a group of abut 7 girls in the front of the line....once we started noticing that groups even bigger than ours that had walked up after us were getting seated before us we knew we were in for some typical French people personalities to come out. The meal was wonderful by all means, however the service was shocking! Never in my life have I been so rushed, insulted and upset with service! Our waiter clearly had a grudge against American students and we got the wrath of it!
(Some of us at dinner!)
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, grabbed Daphne since she had finallly arrived and head back to the Eiffel Tower before mid night to catch the light show that goes on every hour until 1am! It was definitely worth the run there, the lights were beautiful!
(Eiffel Tower light show!)
Monday March 21, 2011
The next morning we woke up, ate our beget and started all over again! First stop was the Pantheon, similar to the one we saw in Rome but definitely not as cool! Right by was the Luxembourg Gardens which were breath taking! After being in Europe for this long and being surrounded by tall buildings and narrow streets you really start to miss the sight of green grass and tall trees!
(Pantheon)
(Daphne and I outside the Luxembourg Gardens!)
From there our next destination was the Galleries Lafayette which is a huge mall type thing in Paris with tons of high end shopping and basically everything we couldn't afford! So alot of window shopping took place there!
(Beautiful inside of the Galleries!)
Once we had window shopped all we could and realized we needed to be extremely successful in life before we ever came back to that place we headed on for another meal. Skylar's friend Chanel had been telling us about this place with the best French onion soup in all of Paris, so of course we had to try it out!
(Inbar and I at the great french onion soup place!)
The day was nearing an end but we still had one last on our agenda which was a famous cemetery that had the graves of Jim Morrison and a few other famous people of the past! Unfortunately before we were able to get to to some of the graves we really wanted to see, the guard started ringing the bell to let everyone know it was closing and we had to get out! Eventhough the actual concept of going to see a graveyard did not sound like the coolest thing in the world, I will say it was pretty interesting!
(Creepy but cool!)
(People casually chilling in the cemetery?)
Later that night we had a pretty chill evening. Skylar, Daphne and I were craving Indian food so we indulged in some interesting Indian cuisine. After dinner we of course needed some desert, so when in Paris you have to get a Crape! Now, I had recently giving up eating Nutella for lint....but on this particular occasion...I had to give in just this once because when would I ever have the chance to get a Nutella crape in Paris, France!?
Tuesday March 22, 2011/Wednesday March 23, 2011
The next morning was an early one, we had to head to the bus station at 430am! Before we knew it we were back in Florence and it was time for me to prepare for my next spring break adventure...London!
On the day in between my two trips, I decided to have a little "stay-cation" in Florence to explore some of the things I had yet to see! I had originally planned on just walking up to the top of Michael Angelo which is a Piazza that overlooks all of Florence. When I got to the top an Asain wedding was going on that I some how got mesmerized watching and ended up staying up there for over 2 hours!
(Piazza Michael Angelo!)
Thursday March 24, 2011
The next morning it was off to the airport again to catch my flight to Frankfurt, Germany to then get on my connecting flight to London, England! Now back in the states I have traveled alone many times (even though it is mainly back and forth from Dallas to Lubbock but shh no one has to know that!) This particular day was the first time I have ever traveled over seas all by myself. Normally I have my roommates or friends to travel with, but since I was meeting Avry and her family in London I was all by myself! No one to make sure I have my passport, or make sure I get on the right flight or even to make sure I have all of my luggage! Not to boast or brag on myself, but I must admit that I did a pretty good job getting on all my flights on time, finding the underground metro once in London, figuring out the metro lines and finding the right one to take me to the hotel and most importantly getting to the hotel passport and luggage in hand! Avry and her family were in Dubai and the Maldives for the first portion of spring break so they had not yet arrived at the hotel when I got there so I decided what a great opportunity to do some exploring on the streets! I chatted on the phone with my parents as they praised my solo traveling success and admired all that London had to offer thus far. I headed back to the hotel once Avry called and said they were getting close and was offered a glass of champagne on the house....this just explains how nice of a hotel it was!
Finnaly Avry, Chip and Anita arrived and we all headed up to the rooms (yes we had our own room which was beautifullll!) to freshen up and get ready for dinner! We met back down stairs at 9:30 to catch a cab to this sushi restaurant that has a name impossible to pronounce/spell! We called it an early night since we had some sight seeing to do in the morning!
Friday March 25, 2011
On this morning Chip had arranged for a private car to take us around the city and get us to all the important sights without the hassle of walking! Before hitting the road we stopped at the lobby bar to grab some breakfast which actually ended up being a breakfast drink!
(Bloody Mary's anyone?!)
Drinks finished, we headed outside to meet our tour guide for the day Nigel! He was a sweet old man who knew all there was to know about the history and buildings in London! He drove us past tons of wonderful churches, banks, shopping centers, Princess Diana's old home and so much more! One of the things that we insisted we get out of the car a take up close pictures at was Buckingham Palace! When we pulled up it was packed outside, filled with tons and tons of people just standing outside of the gates! The flags on the top of the Palace were raised which meant that the Princess was inside! We went along with the crowd and took some photos as well!
(Huge crowd of people bombarding the gates!)
(Avry and I outside of Buckingham Palace!)
(Guards marching outside the palace!)
We got back in the car and continued on our sight seeing adventures and happened to pass the changing of the guards going out outside!
Next stop was Westminster church. (The Royal wedding supposedly will take place at Westministers Abbey.) Our tour guide walked us through the school yard and Avry and I were in love the moment we saw how cute all of the little British children were!
(Westminster Abbey church)
(British children playing soccer!)
When we turned the next corner to head back to the car the one and only Big Ben was sitting right in front of me! After seeing it in countless movies it was so amazing to be standing right by it!
(I thought this picture was cool how it has one fo the double decker buses driving by!)
(Big Ben!)
We continued our tour and drove by tons of interesting buildings that our tour guide told us all the history and background stories about. Something that stood out to me which I had no idea was an actual place was James Bond's MI6 building which supposedly is the Secret Intelligence Service which is responsible for providing the British Government with Foreign Intelligence.
(James Bond MI6)
(The London Eye!)
(Avry and I!)
(Part of London's awesome skyline of architecture!)
As we continued driving on our tour we crossed the Tower Bridge which is often times mistaken for the London Bridge. Supposedly the story behind that is when the man who bought the London Bridge actually purchased it, he mistakenly picked the wrong bridge thinking that it was the London Bridge....how do you mess that up?
(Avry and I in front of the Tower Bridge....often mistaken for the London Bridge)
(The actual London Bridge way in the background)
The place where our driver took us to get some good pictures in front of the bridges was so beautiful! It also had a castle which was the home of the crown jewels! It used to have a big moat surrounding it until they had to fill it in with grass because of how bad it started smelling caused by the sewage!
(Crown Jewels kept here!)
After millions of pictures were taken and my knowledge of the history of London had increased dramatically, our private tour had come to an end and we headed back to the underground, took it to the gianttt Harrods (which was suchhhh an awesome place!) and on our way to meet up with Chip and Anita for lunch....we were stopped by the protest taking place all throughout town causing numerous roads and metro lines to close down! Pretty sure it was a protest for social service cuts....I know this because Avry and I got a kick out of the chants they were saying while they were marching with their signs. It went a little something like this, "No if's, No but's, NO social service cuts!"
(Outside of the underground metro!)
(Harrods!)
(Part of the protest!)
We pushed our way through the crowd, snapped a few photos in the typical London red phone booths, had a great lunch and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner!
(Love these London phone booths!)
For dinner that night we went to this place called "Sketch" which Avry had claimed she had been to and was awesome! Turns out however when we got there and sat down she confessed to everyone that she had never really been there! The restaurant was such a cool place with awesome food! It reminded me of a Jackal and Hyde Cafe type atmosphere really living up to the name of the place, Sketch.
(Avry and I at Sketch!)
(The bathrooms at Sketch! the were in the shape of eggs!)
(Avry and I by the egg stalls!)
After dinner Avry's parents went on back to the hotel and we headed out to check out the London nightlife. The first place we went...or should I say tried to go, turned us down because we did not have a reservation. The odd thing is, normally we would of pushed our way in or figured out some flirtatious youthful way to get ourselves in...but we accepted the rejection and headed on the a bar down the street Aqua to get a drink. I called my friend Peter who graduated from high school with me who was studying abroad in London and we all met up and had a few drinks at one of his favorite bars!
(Peter and I!)
The next night we had dinner reservations at a place called Boisdale where Avry had an intership and worked at a few summers back! It's a Scottish place big on cigars so Avry, Chip and I all headed to Boisdale early to meet up with some of their old friends. The food was amazinggg and minus the red wine that got spilled on my white/black skirt it was a great time!
(Avry's family and I at Boisdale!)
Now I must say that I definitally did London in style and absolutely loveddd it! I am already telling myself that if I ever move back over to Europe anytime in the future....London is where I will land!
My spring break was fantastic and I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to see all I have seen!
