The Magic of Paris

Okay so since I last posted a lot of things happened! Here's what happened up until Paris:

-I went to class

-Saw the worst play I've ever seen in my life. It was this weird Japanese manga criminal thing. The only highlight was that Mrs. Figg from Harry Potter was in it.

-I went to the Science Museum and met one of the curators and talked to her for a while.

-Saw The Lion King on the West End!!!! Best show ever. Seriously.

-Went to this youth group bar party. Yes they had youth group at a bar! It was really nice to meet some English people.

-I almost met Emma Watson! She was at Selfridges advertising her new lipstick line but I was just a little late, she was only there for 15 min!

-Went to Charles Dickens' home/house museum. It was cool to see where he wrote his novels!

-Rachel's parents were in town, so they took us to a really nice Italian dinner. And we went back to the British Library and rode in a black taxi cab!

-I did some homework, went to more classes, ran around Regent's Park.

-Packed for PARIS!

PARIS: THE CITY OF LIGHT

DAY 1

So it was finally time to leave for Paris! We left Thursday evening via bus from the Victoria Coach Station to the Charles De Gaugh airport in Paris. It was a long trip and we didn't get much sleep, but for 40 pounds it was worth it. We arrived around 6 am and went to our hotel to stash our bags and we walked around to Moumonte area for a little bit. We saw the Sacre Coure which was gorgeous. It was quite a hike to the top, but the view was fantastic.

Then we went to a little cafe and had breakfast. Gabby can speak French really well so we were great on getting around. And the Parisians weren't really mean at all! We only had 2 mean people the entire trip. After breakfast, we went back to our hostel to clean up a bit and we walked around and saw Moulin Rouge and the small town around the area. It felt like a small French town and was lovely! We saw artists painting oil on canvas of various Parisian scenes. Then we decided to go to a patisserie for lunch. Let me tell you about a little thing called a croc monsieur. BEST THING EVER. It is an open face ham and cheese sandwich that has the best melted cheese on it. Delicious. This is Moulin Rouge and the Moumontra area.

Then we walked back to the Sacre Cour and walked inside and around. The view really was great. Next we checked into our hotel and got all ready to take on Paris! We walked around the Luxembourgh Gardens and saw the Senat Building. Even in winter the gardens were lovely. Right on the other side was Notre Dame! Westminster Abbey is still my favorite, but it is gorgeous. It was built in the 1200s and is so intricate in the exterior and interior. It has the most stained glass of any church in the world and is the center point for all of Paris direction-wise. It is really tall and you can see it from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Next it was time for the Louvre! We walked over this special bridge in which people put locks on and toss the keys into the river. Its called "lovers' locks" and people come from all over to put their names on a lock on this bridge.

The Louvre was on the other side. Biggest museum in the world holllaaaa! It used to be a palace. We took some touristy pictures and ventured inside.

Museum Love.

I'm not super into art, but there were some amazing paintings and sculptures. We also saw Napoleon's apartments which I really enjoyed. We stayed really late then went home and went to sleep!

DAY 2

The day of serious sightseeing. Woke up, had a lovely breakfast at our hotel of French croissants and nutella! We got around on the metro which was a little complicated but we got the hang of it. We got off at the Eiffel Tower!! It is so gorgeous by day and night. It was built in the late 1800s and was meant to be a part of a world's fair but it stayed as a permanent fixture of Paris. Here are some pictures:

Next we went to where the Bastille used to be. I'm not super into French history for a number of reasons, but I love the French Revolution. Its probably because its the only time other than the Hundred Years War that they have shown some balls (excuse the expression). So a little history because you know I can't let you get away without any. The people of Paris were fed up with the monarchs living lavishly in Versailles while they were in poverty so on July 14, 1789 they stormed the Bastille and tore in down brick by brick. They saw the Bastille as a symbol of the monarch's power over them, as it was a prison that held people on unfair causes. I thought there might be some ruins there but the Parisians did a really good job of tearing it down! Here is the monument that stands there now.

Next we walked to the Place Des Vosges which is this really pretty residential square where Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables lived! There were adorable French children running around everywhere.

Then it was back to Notre Dame to go inside this time. Afterwards we walked around the River Seine which runs through Paris and back to the Louvre.

We walked all the way from there through the Champs Elysess to the Arc de Triomphe. It is supposed to commemorate French victories in war buttt I don't know of any other than Joan of Arc's... I know a great joke about it! Why did the French plant so many trees in Paris? Answer: So the Germans could march in the shade. HAhaHAHAhaha I know. Here it is anyway:

Then we went to Longchamp and I got my birthday present! A medium navy one! I was very excited.

After the best day ever it got better. I ate another croc monsieur for dinner then went to the Eiffel Tower at night!! It sparkles the first 5 min of every hour and is breathtaking. We climbed all the way to the second level via STAIRS and it killed my feet and knees but the view was definitely worth it. Then we cracked open a bottle of wine and drank at the bottom! Very French. I think these pictures speak for themselves.

DAY 3

VERSAILLES CHATEAU omgggg this was the best thing ever. Obviously I'm obsessed with history BUT its history of monarchs I am really fascinated with and especially the castles. I've seen the English castles which are great, but nothing compares with Versailles. It is almost as if Louis XIV was saying "oh yeah? well can you top this? Didn't think so." The Sun King certainly had style as an absolute monarch but he did put the country in debt over this and started the downward spiral to the Revolution. Well at least the castle is gorgeous! We went to go get tickets, and guess what? HISTORY MAJORS GET IN FO FREE yeahhhh buddy. So we went in and toured around everywhere. My words cannot compete with pictures so here they are.

We then went on to the grounds and had a croissant with nutella! The gardens are about 3 miles wide so there was a lot to see! I cannot imagine what it must look like in the summer and I must go back when everything is in bloom. We walked all around and saw the Grand Trianon (King's summer home and place to entertain) and Marie Antoinette's "Play House". She liked to pretend she was a peasant to she had this little village and house built... excess at its finest. I guess the Palace wasn't good enough so she needed her own estate.

Then we walked around the town of Versailles and met the only mean French person we encountered. We went in and ordered coffees and tried to order food but he told us the kitchen closed at 5. Well another waiter told us it closes at 9, soo he just wanted the Americans to leave. What a trick. But we went back to the Chateau to see the sunset to feel better and boy did it! We also filmed me doing a historical segment on the palace as my alter ego Ron Van Der Hoosey. This is something that Will and I started when we were in Italy in 2006! It was really funny and I'll make sure the video gets put on facebook.

So then we left Versailles and went back to Paris. We had one last dinner and one last croc monsuier for me. The last thing we saw was the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night. How lovely!

It was a magical 3 days and I hope to go back to Paris not too long in the future, but this time in the summer!

Blending in with the Londoners

So its been a little over a week since I last posted. I'll break what I've done down by day.

Friday 1/27

I don't have class on Friday which is really great, so I met a friend of one of my friends from Clemson who is studying abroad this semester in London also. We went to a place in Charing Cross called Byron Hamburgers where I had literally the best burger I have ever had in my life. You may or may not know this, but I take burgers very seriously and rank the best ones I've had. This one was 100% the best and I can't even explain why, but the old English cheddar may have had something to do with it. So after that, I met up with some friends with East London. We went to the markets, ate at the Jack the Ripper pub and hung about. It was a fun day.

All 5 of Jack the Ripper's victims were seen coming out of this pub before they were murdered.

Saturday 1/28

This was a wonderful full day of sightseeing! We went and saw Abbey Road which was really entertaining because we watched these teenage girls almost get hit by cars. I not a huge Beatles fan, but I like some of the songs, so it was neat to see it.

Abbey Road!

The Studio

After that however, I was pumped because we were going to see King's Cross station!! I jumped around and finally we saw Platform 9 3/4! I was a little let down, because they moved it to nowhere near where it should be, but I took many pictures nonetheless.

Beautiful.

After King's Cross, we went into the British Library. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. In the "Treasures" section were the following:

-Jane Austen's desk, glassed, personal copies with handwriting of Pride and Prejudice

-Original manuscripts of Shakespearean plays

-Speeches written and signed by Queen Elizabeth I

-handwritten notes from Mary, Queen of Scots

-The Luttrel Psalter

-original copy of the Bible

-Handel's Messiah handwritten and sheet music

-many other freak out worthy pieces

I literally just stared at Elizabeth's signature for a good 5 minutes. I was just so pleased to know that all these things had been preserved for so long.

Sunday 1/29

This was a quieter day of doing a bit of reading, homework, and going to church at night!

Monday 1/30

Literally class all day. Mondays are not too fun.

Tuesday 1/31

I did absolutely nothing but read and it was wonderful.

Wednesday 2/1

Much busier. I went to the Museum of London which was great! It tells the history of the city from prehistory to the future. I particularly enjoyed the exhibits on London during the Civil War and fire, Georgian London, and Victorian London. They had a lot of different types of exhibits like traditional ones with artifacts and text panels, interactive things, touch-screens, and videos. The coolest things were the Georgian Pleasure Garden which showed different outfits people wore all in an actual garden with benches, trees, flowers, a starry sky, and a full size video of people moving about and talking in the 1700s style. It was great. The Victorian London shop set up was similar with storefronts to peruse. I did particularly enjoy this museum.

After this, I had to get ready for a play I was seeing that evening called Lovesong. I absolutely hated the show. It was about a couple when they were young and old going back and forth. They could not have children, cheated on each other, and in the end the wife took too many pills on purpose. I don't know if I missed something, but I did not like it at all.

Thursday 2/2

A good day indeed! We went on a tour of the Globe Theatre with my theatre class. The Globe was really cool, but what was better was the museum of Shakespearean artifacts, and the Rose Theatre which was the actual foundation of the theatre from the 1500s. I did really like the Globe because I've always loved Shakespeare.

We also saw the Millennium Bridge! This is the one that the death eaters destroyed in the beginning of HP6. We also walked around St. Paul's Cathedral which was neat. Definitely not as exciting as Westminster Abbey in my opinion. It was built by Sir Christopher Wren as the original burned down in the fire of London in 1666. Diana and Charles got married here in 1981.

Me in front of St. Paul's Cathedral

Shakespeare's Globe

Millennium Bridge with Tower Bridge in the background

Friday 2/3

We went to Trafalgar Square and toured the National Portrait Gallery. I do love the Potrait Gallery because I just like to look at all the people who I do enjoy learning about. Especially the monarchs.

Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery, fountains, and Olympic Countdown all in the background

Saturday 2/4

We hadn't done any real shopping, so we ventured to the Burberry outlet store! We took our first bus ride out into East London and were excited to go in. However, the prices were not what we thought they would be. Needless to say, we left empty handed. We then went to the Camden Market in Camden and looked at things that were more in our price range. It was a lot like Chinatown actually. Then we decided to blend in with the locals and go to the trendy bar called World's End. It was something all right, lots of punky looking people. Rugby was on England vs. Scotland so that had people riled up. It was fun though and a good atmosphere. When we came out of the pub it had started snowing (yuck) and we got the tube home!

Sunday 2/5

As usual Sundays are for schoolwork! So I've been reading King Lear and watching a movie about Paris because I'll be there in 2 weeks! :)

Until Next time!