The Final Day

On our final full day in Paris, it rained pretty much from morning until evening. The skies must have been lamenting our imminent departure. We had another free day to do whatever we wanted, so some of us were going to go to the catacombs. The line was extremely long, however, and after standing in the pouring rain for about an hour without moving much, we gave it up and went to lunch instead.

                After this, Mason and I devoted the entire day to shopping for souvenirs and gifts since we hadn’t purchased much. It was a really fun day running from shop to shop, and although it was our last day, I was somewhat ready to go home. Every new experience is fun at first, but after a while, you begin to miss your regular comforts and normalcies.

                Looking back, the trip was such a wonderful opportunity that I am so glad that I got to be a part of. Going with this group of people was really fun, and we all really enjoyed each other’s company. It was a great way to see the city because we did something new and different every day. I really don’t feel like I missed out on anything in Paris, I think that I got the best experience that I could have. I would love to go back someday, but I know that it would be a different trip entirely without the same people around and staying in the same hotel and visiting all of the museums like we got to. It was such an amazing opportunity and I will forever cherish it.

London 2.0

Day nine of the trip and day two of London consisted mainly of a really awesome bus tour. Yes, of course it was a red double-decker bus, and yes, of course we sat on the top. Since we didn’t have very long in London, this was a really great way to see a lot of things really fast. It was a little disappointing that we couldn’t get out and visit them all, however. Among the sites that we saw were Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, the London Bridge, London Tower, the London Tower, and many other things. It was also very nice to see most of the town without having to walk around. I definitely got quite a bit of exercise on this trip.

                After lunch, Mr. Greenlee took us to Westminster Abbey, which was easily my favorite part of the London excursion and hands-down my favorite cathedral of the entire trip. It is so large and some of the greatest people in history are buried or memorialized there. I could list them for days, but some that were included were Newton, Darwin, Chaucer, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, and many others. Plus, this is the place where royal weddings and coronations take place. Westminster is seriously massive, and I enjoyed all of the smaller areas that you could go into.

                I could have spent forever there, but unfortunately we had to leave. Before catching our train back, we had some time to walk along the Thames, past Big Ben and the London Eye. I really wish that we could have had more time in London, and I definitely want to visit again. When I first got to Paris, I was charmed by the architecture and history, but turned off by some of the unfriendly people and the dirtiness. London, however, is very quaint, yet still more modern. Plus, they speak English! I’m not one of those people that thinks everyone should speak my language, but it is definitely much more comforting and easier to enjoy a country when they do.

LONDON!!!

Day eight began our wonderful journey to London. We woke up early to catch the chunnel out of Paris and arrived at King’s Cross station. Paris is really wonderful, but London is more my cup of tea. The first thing on our agenda was the British Museum, which I really enjoyed. They had exhibits such as the Rosetta Stone, the Sutton Hoo burial site and other Viking artifacts, a money through the years room, and real mummies and sarcophagi. This museum was really cool because they had a wide variety of exhibits and everything was really artfully of creatively arranged. 

                After the museum, we walked to the National Portrait Gallery, which has a lot of paintings of Kings, Queens, and other important people. This was interesting, and we made it really fun by creating a game in which everyone in the group had to find a portrait that looked like them and take a picture with it making the same pose and face. Then we went to our hotel to check in, and I must say that it was much nicer than the one in Paris, and I was very sad that we would only be staying in it for one night. 

                Following a nice dinner at Mr. Greenlee’s hotel a couple of blocks over, we made the journey to Buckingham Palace. Just as we were approaching the front of the building and the large gate enclosing it, there were a couple of police motorcycles on the street. As we turned our attention to them, the black car following them held none other than the Queen! Our very first day in London, we saw the Queen, right outside of her home. No one would have believed us if Ruth hadn’t whipped out her phone in the midst of all the excitement and snapped a quick picture. We were all very excited as we walked down to the front of the palace and took some pictures. Then we all walked through the park across the street and laid in the grass telling stories and enjoying each other’s company in yet another amazing country.

 WE SAW THE QUEEN!!!

Versailles and the Gardens

On day seven, we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted. So, a group of us started the day by going to eat in a little restaurant called “Breakfast in America,” which was started by a guy who moved to France from New York and really missed the American breakfast. We certainly missed it too considering breakfast in France is mainly just bread and coffee. The restaurant was right down the street from our hotel, and they even spoke English there. Paris is really awesome, but as a non-French speaking American, it’s nice to have those little pieces of home.

                After breakfast, we decided to go to Versailles, which is on the very edge of Paris. It took us a very long metro ride followed by a rather terrifying bus ride to get there, but it was definitely worth it. The mansion is impossibly huge and adorned with gold covered wall details and an extensive gold gate. We did have to wait in line for about 45 minutes with no shade, but we were in good company, and we definitely weren’t going to miss out on seeing the inside.

                Even the small portion that we got to see was absolutely spectacular. There were large chamber rooms, ball rooms, an opera room, and a mirror room which was filled with chandeliers. I also really liked the tour because it included some of the history of the construction and described how each King added onto it to create the massive size that it is now. The house and just the landscaped portion of the gardens, not including the hunting grounds, are easily larger than my entire hometown. The only downfall of Versailles is that it was extremely crowded. Luckily a lot of the decorations extended high onto the walls and ceilings, because you couldn’t exactly see past the crowd, and you just had to keep moving with all of the people. It was quite claustrophobic at times, and I know a few people who wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

                That day, they were having a water and music show in the gardens. I guess the fountains aren’t always running, so during this time all twenty fountains (probably more) were flowing and it was neat to see the gardens as the kings would have seen them. The grounds are so massive that we wandered around in one section for about forty-five minutes before looking at the map and realizing that we had only covered about one-tenth of it. There were a lot of really cool hedges that you could walk through, sort of like a maze, and we were always finding new fountains hidden away in the hills and shrubs. It was a very hot day, but we found some ice cream (hidden in one of the hedges), and traversed a large portion of the gardens before heading back home.

Sacre-Coeur, Montmarte, Lock Bridge, Pompidou

Day Six began earlier than the previous days. We were headed to the small, tourist district of Montmarte, and it tends to get pretty crowded. So we headed out early, much earlier than most shops decide to open, and climbed the many stairs to Sacre-Coeur, which is a beautiful chapel that stands atop a magnificent hilltop and can be seen from many places in Paris. The view was especially breathtaking in the clear morning as we looked out upon the city.

                Stepping inside, we were awed by the beauty, and I think that I like Sacre-Coeur even better than Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. The ceilings were marvelously painted and there was a small choir singing very beautifully. We sat and enjoyed the moment for a while before heading back out to explore Montmarte. This area is very artsy and there were a lot of little painting booths and artists. We saw Picasso’s studio and Van Gogh’s as well. Montmarte was mentioned many times in the novels that we read as the area where struggling artists would live because it offered cheaper rent. So, once again, we were exploring the same streets that were once walked by Hemingway, Picasso, Henry Miller, Van Gogh, and many others. 

                As the group slit up for the afternoon, Mason and I went to the Lock Bridge, which is where couples put a lock with their names on it onto the side of the bridge and then throw the key into the river. We didn’t put a lock on the bridge, but the idea is really beautiful and I enjoyed all of the gold locks glittering along the bridge. 

                Just as we valued a hot cup of coffee on the rainy days, as it got hotter we valued ice cream stands. Seeking one out, we walked along the river and enjoyed the street artists. That night a group of us went to the Pompidou museum, which is where the modern art is. The building is very large and impressive, but the exhibit is only a portion of the building and is only mildly entertaining. I guess that I just don’t really understand modern art. The view from the top floor, however, through the glass walls, was definitely worth the line that we waited in to enter. It was just growing dark, so we saw the many lights of the city, and it was yet another breath-taking sight.