Paris! Day 2

Tuesday 3/16
Day 2 in Paris! We had a lovely french hotel breakfast with croissants, french bread, fruit, and nutella. We took a field trip to VERSAILLES, right outside of Paris. It was absolutely gorgeous. Versailles was King Louis XIV's huge palace, and there are massive gardens surrounding it. There was scaffolding, as usual, and flowers still haven't really bloomed, but it was sunny and warm (!) and beautiful. Inside the palace are lots of paintings, sculptures, fancy bedrooms, and a magnificent hall of mirrors. Outside there were gardens, lakes & reflection pools, shrubbery mazes, and courtyards, in every direction. It was all so lovely.

After Versailles we headed to the metro station and met Kellan, Margaret, and Alyssa there and rode back to Paris together. Apparently all of us fell asleep except for Ali, who stayed awake to watch our stuff. I am so tired! This will be a long but amazing four days... very busy and fun-filled.
Next we went to the Arc de Triomphe, which was so cool. It's Napoleon's giant arc (obviously) surrounded by the biggest roundabout i have ever seen, lots of cars zooming around. We walked to it underground and came back up right underneath it. There are all these inscriptions and sculptures carved into it, and the famous Tomb of the Unknown soldier was there (with a flame that's been continuously lit since WWI). We climbed to the top and saw an amazing view of Paris. It was a beautiful day! Up there we met Sarah, Kalyn, and Margaret, which was awesome... i love seeing BYU students in random places in Paris! We walked back down and wandered down the Champs-Elysees together. It's a big long street with high-fashion stores and patisseries galore. Pretty much everyhing French and fancy. And McDonalds of course... haha which is where I tried my first maccaroon! haha there was a little bakery stall inside McDonalds with cheaper maccaroons than anywhere else i'd seen so i got a chocolate maccaroon there. It was pretty delicious. We walked down the street awhile and I got delicious french bread and pain au chocolat. YUM bon appetit!

 

view of Sacre Coeur

 

view of Arc de Triomphe, from Champs-Elysees

We met at the hotel and a group of us headed over to the Eiffel Tower for dinner and a boat cruise down the river Seine. My dinner was a delectable chocolate and coconut crepe! We sat next to a carousel in front of the Eiffel Tower (definitely my favorite spot in Paris) and it was amazing.

We realized that we were at the wrong boat tour so (for a good 10 minutes) we literally ran through Paris, across busy streets, along the river, even jumping over gates, to get on the boat in time. It was hilarious and crazy haha and i'm sure people were amused to see 12 American kids running like crazy through the city. :) 

It was so worth it! The cruise took us down the Seine, which is fantastic at night with everything lit up, and we passed lots of famous buildings, museums, Notre Dame, etc, and floated under plenty of gorgeous bridges. It is almost shocking how EVERYTHING in Europe is so pretty... at least to me. Europeans are so spoiled! The highlight was returning to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it sparkling and reflecting onto the water. Wow. :)

Notre Dame!

We went back to the hotel, and Katie (my roommate) and I had drinks at the bar (flavored lemonade and a cocktail) with cute little appetizers. It was special :) I love Paris!

Paris! day 1

Monday 3/15
Bonjour Paris! For our "spring break" we get to spend the next four days in Paris! Early this morning we took the Chunnel to France (train under the Channel). I was really excited :) Like embarrassingly excited to see France. I kept falling asleep and then jerking awake and asking if we were in France yet. The countryside looks pretty similar to England actually. Beautiful.

Our first stop was Chartres, a pretty little French town with a big, ancient cathedral. We had a couple hours to explore the town. The little french shops and patisseries were so cute! There was an adorable carousel in the town square too. We met at the cathedral, which is originally 1200-1500 years old! Parts were added or rebuilt during the Renaissance so it's a cool mismatch of different centuries' styles. I loved it! My favorite cathedral so far. Inside was pretty dark and there were candles everywhere. There was a massive "rose window" made of stained glass and with the sun shining through it was spectacular. Our tour guide in the cathedral talked on and on and onn.... (almost an hour and a half) so i split off a few times to explore and photograph.

 

 

After Chartres we headed for Paris! At our hotel i roomed with Katie and it was pretty funny because we had one big bed to share. Honeymoon suite? A group of us searched for dinner and ended up at some type of Italian restaurant? (so wrong) and i ordered a bland pasta. Fail. I'd rather save money and eat better (aka eat crepes all week) then waste money on boring food in France! haha that's exactly what i did here. :)

We then went out to find the Eiffel Tower! ..after figuring out the Metro (French tube) which sucks compared to the British tube! I may be spoiled... but it was terrible. Dirty and smelly and old and SO confusing and difficult to navigate. But we reached the right area and... it was amazing. Just like the first time i saw Big Ben... i walk out and look up and it's RIGHT ABOVE ME all lit up and beautiful! I freaked out haha. It's amazing!! I walked right under the Eiffel Tower, and saw an adorable couple kissing underneath. Aww. :) City of Love. And City of Lights. Everything was soo pretty. To make it perfect, i ate a chocolate crepe right under the Eiffel Tower! *sigh... i love my life haha.

Oh! And surprise! Every hour (at night) it lights up all sparkly! I freaked out, again. It was amazing. Fortunateley I had Ali's extra camera to use so i took loads of pictures and even a video. Good day.

Tour guide for Melinda & family!

Thursday 3/11
Today kinda sucked. 50 people in one flat… not enough space. Eh. My camera drowned and died last weekend when an entire water bottle emptied out in my purse. Today I spent a few hours looking for a new camera but the $ exchange is bad as always.
Good event for the day – a group of us saw the show Hairspray tonight. It was pretty good but not fantastic.

Friday 3/12
Today… ran some errands, not feeling good, studied for a test.

Saturday 3/13
Today I got to see Melinda and her family! It was a great day. Melinda (my half-sister), Devin, Clara and Jonas moved to Harrogate, England this year and it was their first time visiting London. I met them at the Science Museum and introduced Ali to them. I was trying to be a sort of tour guide and had places i wanted to show them, but every tube line I needed was (of course) down today, so we took buses all the way across London. We split from Ali and headed towards Big Ben, which is my favorite area of London. I had lots of fun pointing out famous spots – Westminster cathedral, Parliament, Big Ben! We took pictures and then crossed the River Thames and saw the London Eye. I loved being with Clara and Jonas! They are adorable and so much fun. 

We stopped for lunch at a bakery, which was pretty good but unfortunately Melinda was allergic to part of her lunch and became sick. :( We then took a scenic bus route through more amazing places – Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. Clara loved sitting on the top level of the red double-decker bus, as I pointed things out. We stopped at Marble Arch and walked back to their hotel (which is 1 tube stop away from where I live!) along the northern edge of Hyde Park, which is beautiful even though everything is still refusing to bloom. It was kind of sad saying goodbye so soon… I love being with family. I may be a bit homesick… while I simultaneously don’t want to leave London!

On the way home I went into my favorite souvenir shop (one of like 15 on Queensway) where the Indian lady recognized me haha. It’s sad when a souvenir store-owner knows you. :) But she has great discounts “just for you!” and she cracks me up. I somehow spent a good £35 on souvenirs (mostly for my family! I love you guys!). Went back to the Centre, went back out with a few girls to an H&M sale (I got a jacket and red dress!), then I spent the rest of the evening studying and taking a 2-hour Brit Lit midterm.

Sunday 3/14
Church, not feeling well again, had a good talk with the bishop’s wife in my Whitechapel ward (she’s amazing and hilarious with a big black sassy woman accent). Spent the rest of the day doing nothing then studying for and taking a religion midterm. With the exception of seeing Melinda & company yesterday, this has not been a great past few days. I can’t wait to start a new week tomorrow… in Paris! Tomorrow is our “spring break” and the whole program is spending 4 days in Paris! Yay :)

Day Trip 7

Wednesday 3/10
Day Trip 7... to Stourhead, Jane Austen's house, and Winchester.
Our first stop was Stourhead Gardens, built in the 18th century. There's a lake and a path surrounding it, a cave-like grove, and two buildings (temples) built in classical greek style. We were all excited because in the Pride and Prejudice movie there is a big scene in Stourhead, and the scene where Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth is there, at the Temple of Apollo. Unfortunately the Temple was under construction (scaffolding is always everywhere we go!) but it was still exciting to be there.

temple of apollo

Next we visited Jane Austen's house (in Chawton?) which was a museum about her life. I just finished Austen's Northanger Abbey so that made it more interesting. Last we visited Winchester and toured the cathedral. Big, with pretty stained glass windows, and a strange mural made out of painted toast haha.

Back to London, another good Marks and Spencer dinner and i made money yet again (by not using all of the £5 they give us for dinner each day trip). Success. :) Tonight we watched Pride and Prejudice! And we all freaked out when the Stourhead scenes came on. I love that movie! :) I'm excited to read the book this summer.

Abbey Road, War Horse, Portraits, Alice

   Weekend... amnesia :) Sunday we went over to Shannon Ashton's for dinner and for help planning our backpacking trip (Ali and I are exploring Europe for a month after school ends!)! I love looking at Shannon's photography of her world travels... so beautiful. She invited us back in a couple weeks for some serious planning. She also treated Ali and I to dessert at a delicious cafe, and made dinner, AND we walked over to the famous Abbey Road (near her flat)! We took touristy pictures and i signed the wall everyone signs outside Abbey Road Studio. Beatles love.

ABBEY ROAD!

Afterwards... boring homework and mythology essay.

    Monday 3/8

Classes, then we all went to see the play "War Horse!" (to be said in a low eager voice). haha it wasn't too terrible but it definitely wasn't great. Most of us made fun of it actually. It's about a boy and his weirdly deep love for his horse Joey. They are split up in WWI but fortuately reunited in the end. The horses are giant puppets held by people who make the horse noises. Watch the preview to better understand. I cannot watch it without cracking up (probably because i sat through the whole performance).

War Horse

Tuesday 3/9

Many students in the Centre went on a country walk; ali and i slept in and had a nice day. Well first we both did laundry. Ew. Then we got lunch at a pub in Trafalgar Square; i tried a chicken and leek pie because i'm trying to be adventurous and eat British cuisine. Not my favorite... I liked Ali's mushy peas though. :)
After lunch we went across the square to the National Portrait Gallery. Lots of old portraits, especially of royal and famous people. There were some interesting modern ones as well, including a tribute to Princess Diana and a photography exhibit of Twiggy. I loved it!

Tuesday night we saw Alice in Wonderland (in 3D)! it was fantastic! i loved the colorful craziness.

Hampstead Heath and Camden Market

    Thursday 3/4
I didn't do much of anything exciting today. long day of classes, another classy Tesco/McDonalds lunch, procrastintion.
     Friday 3/5
Program field trip to Hampstead Heath, a huge park wilderness area (outside of London) with lots of greenery and mud. We visited Keats' house (famous poet) nearby and then walked across the heath. It was pretty but i slipped and fell in the mud early on and that didn't make me very happy about the heath. I got mud all over myself! Yes i am clumsy.

hampstead heath..

Kenwood house

Part of Notting Hill was filmed here! (on the greens behind Kenwood house)

Afterwards Ali and I went to Camden Market. It's a massive market with everything, plus a bit of punk attitude. it's fun. :) We went into this crazy techno/rave store with neon lights and weird space costume/clothes and dancing girls. Weird. Camden is a great place to people-watch haha.

Here's a picture of it (stolen; not mine).

 

later...

having fun in the tube station :)