Last Day in London

Today was our last full day in London and it was a busy day! We began our day by eating breakfast at the hotel and soon after, several of us students met in the hotel lobby to take off on a morning adventure.

We began our morning adventure by taking the subway to Harrods. Harrods is a very large, high-class department store in London. And we certainly didn't expect to be able to afford anything there. However, it turns out that we were able to afford something there… CUPCAKES! There’s a food court of sorts in the middle of this department store but it’s unlike any food court I've ever seen. There are several different sections such as fruits, candy, chocolate, baked goods…there was even an Asian restaurant.  It was quite impressive. I chose a rocky road cupcake and it was yummy. Normally I would add a photo now to show you the yummy cupcake that I bought, but in the end, I chose to devour it and not waste any time with getting my camera out.

Harrods

Just SOME of the chocolates at Harrods

More chocolates. Yum.

Mmm... cupcakes. 

After Harrods, we got back on the subway and made our way to Abby Road. Yes, the very same Abbey Road that is famous for being on the cover of The Beatles album, Abbey Road. We attempted to take the classic picture while crossing the street, however, there was quite a bit of traffic and it made the task challenging. We made a few valiant attempts before finally giving up on getting it just right.

Abbey Road! This is the closest we got to a decent picture. 

We then took the subway to Baker’s Street (made famous by Sherlock Holmes) where we found The Beatles Store. Not surprisingly, everything was super pricey, but I did end up getting a key chain.  At this point our group split up. Laura and I headed over to an Italian restaurant on Baker’s Street where we split a Margherita pizza.

Our last Margherita Pizza in London

Mind the gap!

After we’d finished lunch, we headed over to Trafalgar Square where we went back to the National Gallery to check out a few paintings that we hadn't seen when we’d come previously. After about an hour in Trafalgar Square, we headed back to our hotel and took a breather before heading back out to The British Museum. We spent a little bit of time there seeing some interesting things such as The Rosetta Stone, mummies, and Grecian statues. Another interesting exhibit that we saw was the Lindow Man. The Lindow Man is a bog body that was found near Manchester in 1984. If you don’t know what bog bodies are, you probably shouldn't look it up because it’s kind of gross. I learned about bog bodies this past year in British Literature II and when I found out that there was going to be a bog body at the museum we were going to, I was pretty excited. As gross as that is. I’ll spare you the photo of the Lindow Man.

British Museum

The Rosetta Stone

Egyptian exhibit 

A bunch of Pharaohs with their faces smashed 

Greek exhibit

After the museum, we came back to the hotel and I ended up walking to the grocery store to get my last grocery store supper here in London. I've come to really enjoy grocery store meals and I’m going to miss them when I go back to the states.

My last grocery store meal

I wish that I could say that the night ended uneventfully, but that wouldn't be true. Bridget Jones’ Diary was on television and I was in the middle of watching it when Laura managed to lock herself into the bathroom. It took a few minutes, her on the inside, and three of us on the outside to finally get her out. Needless to say, she’s decided not to lock the bathroom door anymore.

We’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning to head back to South Dakota. I've had a lot of fun on this trip, but I’m definitely happy to be going home!

Michaela

Paris to London

This morning we got up early and left our hotel in Paris. It would be an understatement to say that I was happy about leaving Paris. We hauled our luggage to the subway station where we witnessed a nice street fight. As we were coming up to the station we could see two guys standing outside where the one was yelling at the other in French and waving a stick around. I honestly didn't take it seriously at first. But then as we got closer, he started hitting the guy with his stick. He actually broke the stick. By the time we were walking past them, they had wrestled each other to the ground and were throwing punches. In that moment I really wished that I could speak French so that I some sort of idea as to why they were fighting. Let’s just say that this incident only increased my desire to leave Paris.

We got to the train station, filled out our landing cards, and went through security with no problems. We had to wait about twenty minutes before we could board our train, but once we’d boarded and took off, I was so excited to be going back to London that I actually managed to stay awake for most of the trip. My goal was to stay awake while we went through the chunnel and I succeeded. I was quite pleased with myself.

As soon as we got off the train in London, we hopped on the subway and took it to our hotel where we left our luggage and then went to grab something for lunch. The hotel we are staying at for this last part of our journey is on the same street as our first hotel in London. We were told before we came that we’d feel like we were coming home when we came back to London from Paris and it’s true. It definitely felt like coming home. Coming to London after being in Paris makes everything in London seem ten times nicer. The air here is fresh, the subways are clean, and the people seem so much friendlier.

The rest our time here in London is free time for us to spend however we choose. Laura and I have carefully planned out all the things we want to do and we began the execution of our plan this afternoon.

We started our free time by taking the subway to the stop nearest to Westminster Abbey. The abbey is closed to tourism on Sunday and I’m glad that they enforce that. So instead of going as tourists, Laura and I decided to go to one of the services held there. We went to the Evensong service that began at 3 PM. We were ushered into the church by lots of… priests? I don’t know what the correct term would be here. They were all wearing robes though. We had to get into a line to go in and before we were even allowed through the gates into the churchyard we were reminded that the church “ wasn't open to visitors.” When we actually got to the gate we were asked again if we were there as tourists or to go to the service. Once inside the church, there were at LEAST four signs saying that no pictures are allowed. I find it sad that a church has to be so strict and enforce so many rules just to ensure an authentic church service. However, I’m also glad that they enforce it so strongly because it would be awkward to go to a church service and have people sitting there taking pictures. As it was, it was obvious who the tourists were that said they were going to the service even though they probably just said that so that they’d be able to go into the church because several families got up and left after about fifteen minutes. Anyway, the service was beautiful. Definitely not the kind of church that I would want to go to every Sunday, but it was an experience that I’m really glad I got to have. Because it was the Evensong service, most of the service was sung by the choir. It was fabulous.

One side of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Front of Westminster Abbey

The church service lasted about an hour and a half and once it was done Laura and I hopped on the subway and took it to Piccadilly Circus. I didn't really know what Piccadilly Circus even was. Turns out it’s basically just a bunch of stores. And there’s a statue in the middle of them. We only stayed for a few minutes.

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus

We then hopped back on the subway and took it to Leicester Square where we wandered around for a while trying to find the Vue Theatre. Surprisingly, we found it without too much trouble and we didn't even have to ask anyone for directions. Stopped at the theatre quick and bought tickets to The Great Gatsby and since we had an hour before the movie started, we ran across the street and got a slice of pizza to go. We finished our pizza and then returned to the theatre. That was the first time I've ever been to a movie theatre that has an escalator in it, let alone four floors with escalators all the way to the top. Our theatre just happened to be on the fourth floor. The movie was great and we both really enjoyed it.

The Great Gatsby

We’re still on Paris time, so when the movie got done we were both tired. We came right back to our hotel and started getting ready for bed. Our hotel doesn't have very good internet though so our blogs are more challenging to get done. That would also be the reason why I’m late with posting my blogs. Tomorrow is our last day in London before we go home and it’s going to be a busy day! Laura and I were discussing tonight what it’s going to be like to be back in South Dakota and one thing we both admitted that we’re excited to see again is corn fields. You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the girl, I guess.

Michaela  

Paris: Day 3

This morning after we’d eaten breakfast, we all met in the lobby of our hotel and took the subway to The Louvre. The Louvre is amazing. It’s also huge. Laura and I got lost while we were trying to get back to the arranged meeting place. We only spent a few hours in The Louvre, but we managed to see the pieces of art that we’d wanted to see and we still had time left over.

Statue in The Louvre

Statue in The Louvre

One of the many extravagant ceilings in The Louvre

Statue in The Louvre

Statue in The Louvre

The Venus de Milo

Statue in The Louvre

Another statue in The Louvre

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Statue at The Louvre

Gigantic painting in The Louvre

Statue at The Louvre

Outside The Louvre

There are some amazing paintings in The Louvre such as the Mona Lisa and Liberty… However, I decided that my favorite part was the sculptures. There are so many and after a while they all start to blur together, but I still enjoyed seeing them. Even though the Venus de Milo gets a lot of attention, there are plenty of other sculptures at The Louvre that equal its beauty.

I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn't excited to see the Mona Lisa, because I was. I've heard so many people say that it isn't that great of a painting and that it’s not even worth seeing, but I was not disappointed. I’m glad that I got an opportunity to see it. The only disappointing thing about the Mona Lisa was that it was in a glass case which made it impossible to get a good photo of it.

When we finished inside The Louvre, we went outside and took a few photos of the outside before heading to get lunch. We ate at a small sandwich shop that was near an opera house.

Opera house in Paris

Opera house in Paris

It was at this point that my opinion of Paris became permanently scarred. We walked from the sandwich shop and proceeded to take a subway to a stop near the church, Sacre Coeur. The church itself is beautiful. However, the area surrounding it is not. Movies seem to paint Paris as a beautiful city full of flowers and whatnot. It’s really romanticized in film. The truth is, it’s not that nice at all. There definitely are really pretty areas. But for the most part, it’s not that pretty. Paris is a filthy city. It’s just plain gross. In a lot of areas there is trash piled in the streets. It was especially bad in the area surrounding Sacre Coeur. Paris also smells really bad. There are a lot of bad smells, but the two worst, in my opinion, are the smell of sewage and the smell of smoke. Everyone is Paris smokes. Every place you go. You can’t get away from the smell.

While the things I mentioned previously are pretty nasty, the thing that really made me not like Paris is the people. They can be pretty rude; especially the people trying to sell things on the streets. When we first went to The Eiffel Tower, there were men all over trying to sell miniature Eiffel Towers. They were pretty persistent; however, they WOULD leave after a while.

Today, when we got to Sacre Coeur, there were men trying to sell stuff again but in this area they would actually grab your wrist and try to make you buy stuff. It was pretty freaky stuff.

Near the church there was an area where artists set up booths and sell their artwork so we visited that for a while. When we finished there, we went through some tourist shops and bought some souvenirs. Not surprisingly, the area we were in was not far from The Moulin Rouge. So we walked by that just to see it. That area of Paris was definitely one of the sketchiest places I've ever been. I never thought that I would be able to say that I’m comfortable in a city the size of London, but I now realize just how comfortable I am in London compared to Paris.

We’re headed back to London tomorrow morning bright and early and trust me, we can’t get there soon enough for me. I’m so looking forward to being back in London again.

View from Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur

The Moulin Rouge

Michaela

Paris: Day 2

What a busy day! The one hour time change from London to Paris seems to have affected me more than the six hour time change from South Dakota to London. I've been so tired all day. 

We started our morning with breakfast at the hotel. I would consider it to be a very French breakfast. It consisted of baguettes, croissants, and tea. 

Breakfast in France

Immediately after breakfast, we left our hotel and took the subway to the Eiffel Tower. We got into the quickly increasing line to go up to the top of the tower. We didn't have to wait in line too long. Luckily, we got the elevator tickets and not the tickets where you have to take the stairs. We've taken so many stairs in the past ten days, the most current example being our hotel room on the fourth floor, I don't think my legs would be very happy if we'd used the stairs to climb the Eiffel Tower.

Waiting in line

From the time we got in at the base of the tower, it only took about fifteen minutes to get to the very top. This included going through lines, and taking two elevators. Once we got up as far as we could go, we took a few photos and then went back down. It's a nice view, but it was really foggy out. I definitely would rather take photos of the Eiffel Tower rather than from it so Laura and I spent the next two hours walking around the Eiffel Tower taking pictures of it. 

Going up

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Laura and I at the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower from across the river

The Eiffel Tower and a blooming tree

Oh yeah, we also took a brief break to eat a crepe and to ride on the carousel.

The carousel

When we left the Eiffel Tower, we headed to the subway again. One thing I've learned about Paris, is that it's always rush hour in Paris. I never truly understood the term "packed like sardines" until I rode the subway in Paris. It's less than enjoyable. 

We took the subway to Arc de Triomphe and took a few photos there before heading to Notre Dame. 

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dame is a beautiful church. But it did not live up to the expectations I was given by the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Either way, it was enjoyable and the stained-glass windows were gorgeous. 

One of the rose windows at Notre Dame

Altar at Notre Dame

Carvings inside Notre Dame

Stained-glass window

Stained-glass window with statue shadow

Stained-glass window with statue shadow

Stained-glass window

Inside Notre Dame

Outside of Notre Dame

Front of Notre Dame

Statues on the front of Notre Dame

After we'd gone through the church, we walked around the back to the small park behind the church and took a few more photos. 

Back of Notre Dame

One thing that Laura and I really wanted to do in Paris was find the lock bridge and put locks on it. Lucky for us, the lock bridge is located right behind Notre Dame. For those of you who have not heard of the lock bridge, it's a bridge where couples bring padlocks with their names on them and they put the padlocks on the bridge and throw the key into the river to symbolize a permanent love. Pretty mushy-gushy stuff. Laura and I decided to do a friend version of this so we locked a padlock on the bridge that says, "Mickey and Laura, friends forever" in French. 

The lock bridge

It wasn't hard to spot the bridge

My lock

Me and Laura's lock

Getting ready to throw the keys in the river

"Can't stop lovin' youuuu"

Turtle lock

Lion lock

After we finished putting our locks on the bridge, we went through some tourist shops and then went and met our group in front of Notre Dame. When we got to the area where our hotel is, Laura and I stopped at the grocery store briefly and got something to eat for supper and then we went back to our hotel room. We spent the rest of the evening spying on the chain smoker across the road and singing songs from musicals. Now it's time for bed.

The Paris subway

Michaela