Paris - Day 1

Wow, Paris was awesome. I LOVED it. So glad I got the opportunity to go, and so glad that Kimbre was cool enough for some company. It was nice; she was renting a small apartment instead of a hostel, so it was nice having a place to go “home” to at the end of two tiring days. Definitely will return someday, and would definitely like to learn some basic French. It was really bizarre and in some cases really scary not being able to speak the language. NOT A WORD. Parlez-vous ainglaise? Bonjour, mercí, si vous plaît, pardón…I even giggled a little when the waiter said “bon appétit”. I was like I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!! I can count to three. That’s it. That is legitimately all the French I know. Luckily, there really are enough people in Paris who speak English, at least enough to get by.

I flew in at 11:40

I was so excited to see some ocean! Reminded me of Sur la Plage from The Boyfriend HAHA! I had a really smooth flight, although I recently found out apparently both easyjet (London, Paris) and Ryanair (Italy) both use training pilots to fly, and that’s why they are so cheap, but at least that explains why the landings are so rough. I also recently read this article that was apparently in Readers Digest, too, which made me feel a little better about flying, to be honest. So that was nice, and I wasn’t as stressed out. The London flight was still terrifying. BAAAAH!

Took the trains to Kimbre’s place…everything went smoothly with the exception of when I was on the metro and we were stopped and some guy was like, “c’mon” and waving me with him, and I was like, HECK NO, I do not know you! And he kept saying “c’mon” and then asked if I spoke French, and I was like “no”…then I looked around and everyone was getting off and I realized there was an interruption in service. I found a security person who spoke a little English, and she told me what lines to transfer to. I’m glad most of the undergrounds/metros all work the same, and the maps are all pretty easy to read; once you can read one, you can read them all. Finally made it to Kimbre’s place, where she poured me my first glass of French wine


And then we went to lunch at a place just up the street that was recommended by our now good friend Rick Steves (he got us to some really awesome places, I plan on buying his book(s) before I travel to Europe again). They had a lunch menu with two options each for Entrees (appetizers) and Plates (entrees), so we each got the different ones. I had a Salmon patê with potatoes and a salad (and I got the bread all to myself, a perk of traveling with a gluton intolerant):


and Kimbre got a leek soup (that would be a duck liver floating in the middle):


Both were BOMB, so tasty. Then I had a lamb mousse (it didn’t look very mousse-y to me) with noodles and a delicious sauce:


While Kimbre had a white fish with rice (the fish was pretty bland, but the sauce was good).


Then we split a crème brulee for dessert!!!!!


Here’s the restaurant:


After lunch, we headed a few blocks away to the Moulin Rouge! Too expensive/touristy to go in, but it was cool to see for sure.



Kimbre had me show off my (attempt at) pole dancing. Definitely think I’ll be getting hired soon (not).


We went to starbucks and I got my Paris/France mini cups…I think if I can, I’d really like to buy an inexpensive black shelf to display them in my room. And also figure out what pictures from my trip are really important and buy a nice big black frame where I can put like 5-7 of them, get them printed in black and white and what not. Going for classy.

We took the metro to the Eiffel tower…it’s cool cuz their metro also goes outside, which I like…so we were just riding along, chatting, reading maps, and it pulls outside, I look to my right and I’m like “AAAAAAAAH” (I don’t know how to write a really big gasp, like the kind that freak Nick out when he’s driving and I’m in the passenger seat), and all the people sitting near us all look and try to figure out what I’m freaking out about, and it’s just the Eiffel Tower. You know. IT’S HUGE!!! So much bigger than I expected. I think I’ve always had issues with monuments because ever since going to Mount Rushmore…I dunno, I just remember being extremely disappointed with how small it was. I had expected it to be so much bigger and it was not. So yeah, Eiffel Tower was huge. We got off the metro to take some pictures:


War memorial:


More Eiffel Tower:


The Seine


Eiffel Tower close up


And then we decided to go to a Rick Steves location, a street called Rue Clare. It’s a street that has been blocked off to traffic and an attempt at keeping some traditional Paris area alive, with all the stores and like a post office and bank and stuff. Really pretty.


I freaked out when I realized they were alive:


A CHEESE SHOP!!!! This is what is wrong with the US…WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THESE!?!?!?! (and hi Kimbre!)


BEAUTIFUL sunset/sky


A fountain


A church


We tried to get to Luxemberg Gardens, but they had just closed. Fail. Oh well, there’s always next time. :-)


We started walking back, and passed a toy shop…Oh my LANTA I had to take a picture, this would be SO politically incorrect in the US. Loved it. Little white boy in a
Native American (American Indian?) outfit.


The Arc de Triumph. This was also SO BIG. So pretty at night.


If you look really closely at the far right, you can baaarely see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The picture sucks, but maybe…


This is Champs de Elise, the place to be seen in Paris, apparently. It’s all the fashion and high quality stores. Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Disney Store, super expensive perfume…you know, the important stuff:


We went into this AMAZING pastery shop that makes these AMAZING cookies…I do not like macaroons because of the coconut, but these were DELICIOUS!!!!!!




Here’s the macaroons…they came in 18 different flavors. I got dark chocolate and vanilla, the vanilla were the best. I need to figure out how to re-create these. SO GOOD. They were melt in your mouth good. I was just worried I’d smush them if I tried to bring them back to Spain. They’d be eaten if I tried to bring them back to the US, they wouldn’t last the next five weeks, promise.



Perfume shop:


This is like their Corte Ingles:


OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS HUGE BABYBEL! The French know how to do cheese RIGHT! (and can you imagine the wax ball you could make out of this!?!?!


A museum, I think.


We went back to the Eiffel tower to see it at night:





Kimbre and her boyfriend Rick Steves…she’s looking real confused looking at a metro map:


And I’m knocking down the museum that was right here to build my apartment so I can see this every night:




Our supper of different cheeses, basil, tapenade, bread, meats, and patês. There was also wine.


And I CONKED OUT hardcore within like 10 minutes of crawling into the world's most comfortable bed.

London - Day Three! (Last Day...sad)

We started the day at the Tower of London/Tower Bridge again in hopes to get a little further in...unfortunately, we couldn't get anywhere without paying the 15 pounds. I was pretty much out of money except for transportation, food, and my London souvenir, so we ended up not going. Next time! But we did get some great pictures:






We went to Starbucks so I could get my souvenirs...I found these Demitasse cups for fairly inexpensive in Madrid, and I was hoping I could find them in every big city...since I found them in London, I decided to purchase them, and hopefully I can get them in Paris and Rome as well. It's just two small versions of their big mugs, one has the city name on it (London, Madrid), and the other has the country (England, Spain). I just thought they'd be a little classier than keychains or shot glasses. I just wanted something I could display that wouldn't be too much of a hassle to bring back.



I then went off on my own in hunt of the Abbey Road Crossing. Not terribly exciting, but glad I did it.
Me in front of the crossing with the picture of the album cover:


Street sign:


I'm pretty sure this is the recording studio, but I wasn't 100% sure:


Just the crossing:


Saw this on the underground and thought Emily would appreciate...it's huge in London!


So I got everything checked off on my checklist...what was I to do now? How about hunt down the British Library to see the Magna Carta?
Thought I had seen the British Library around Westminster, so I headed back there:




Nope. My bad. So I walked to Trafalgar Square to hop on the metro to go to KING'S CROSS STATION (which is where my map said the library was, so two birds with one stone, nooo??)!!!!!!!!!!!





King's Cross Station! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get to Platform 9 3/4 without buying a ticket, especially since the station was completely being constructed, but at least I took a couple pictures:




The British Library:

(I ate this for lunch...some sort of pork sausage pie)


Ok, so I was like, I'll go in and see the Magna Carta, woooo, then I'll have to figure out something else to do with my time.
Pretty much ended up being in my top three favorite things I ended up doing.
Not because of the Magna Carta (no offense), although that was cool, but because of all the other amAZING things they had! Unfortunately, I could not take pictures, so I started writing them down (and then I double checked the website), the things I thought were AWESOME:
-The original Gutenberg Bible
-Original Aesop's Fables
-Magna Carta (whole room dedicated to it)
-Charles Darwin "Evolution of Species" letter
-Captain Scott's South Pole diaries and accounts
-Henry VIII's Prayer Roll
-Original writings from Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, Virgina Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Harold Pinter, and Lewis Carroll
-Original Beuwolf
-A whole collection, including some of the original, of different versions of Alice in Wonderland, including some of Salvador Dali's illustrations
-Jane Austen's writing desk
-Some original Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Ben Johnson
-Beethoven's tuning fork
-Original Wedding March
-Mozart's Wedding Contract and a horn concerto

AND MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE:
-The Original Copy of Handel's Messiah, with cross outs and word changes and everything.

Coming in close second is:
-The Beatle Exhibit (found the lyrics PLUS SOME!)
Various Memorabilia plus handwritten lyrics to
-Help!
-Ticket to Ride
-I Remember a Time when Everyone
-Michelle
-Hard Day's Night (in a birthday card)
-I Wanna Hold Your Hand ♥

SO FREAKING AWESOME. The Messiah was really REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY cool, because all I could think about was how he was like HEARING THE MUSIC and writing it all down on that book that was RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. So awesome. So glad I went pretty out of my way to hunt down the Magna Carta only to stumble across awesomeness.

Went back to Covent Garden to hopefully be there during functioning hours so I could hopefully find a flower girl. All I found was this:

But it was called:


Then I met up with Kelly and Kristen at the London Museum:


This dress was ridiculous:


This hat was a pirate ship:


And this "walk through a victorian London" reminded me ridiculously of Lynden's Pioneer Museum. Creepily.


And after the museum, we ended our trip with some traditional ale and fish and chips.


Then we went back to the hostel, packed, and made our way to the airport to crash overnight and then be on the plane early this morning.

After a terrifying near death experience (THE PLANE WAS BEING BLOWN BY THE WIND IN THE AIR ON OUR DESCENT...some poor little kid was screaming "I don't like this airplane!" the whole time we were heading down (his lovely sister responded, "I don't like you", but I was with the kid)), all is well, and I am back in Madrid.

So after that weekend, I know I would have liked London better. It would have been a better fit for me, and I think overall it would have been more comfortable. But I wouldn't have been able to finish my Spanish degree, and being in Spain definitely puts me out of my comfort zone. So it was the right choice. But I loved visiting London and I cannot WAIT to go back. Maybe even live there for a year when I have a family 20 years down the road? That'd be cool.