Author: Madison

Our first day in Paris was dedicated to Jardin des Plantes. Unfortunately, my phone did not switch with the hour time change between London and Paris, so I woke up late for the day. After scrambling my stuff together, we traveled to Jardin des Plantes which was quite a unique museum. I have never seen such a vast quantity and types of bones than in that room. It was cool to explore this museum, and see some of the things we discussed at Orton. We then walked over to both the Mineralogie et Geologie and the botanique jardins. All of the museums were unique and beautiful. A group of us traveled to the Arc de Triomphe. Seeing the arc in real life was magnificent. It makes all other replicas look miniature. It was great to climb to the top and experience the views of Paris. Our group then walked by the grand and petite palias on our way to a crepe shop by the Louvre. I explored the Louvre and got lost many times because it is so big. It was great to see things in person that you just see pictures of, and experience all of the beautiful artwork. We ventured back to our hotel to freshen up and rest. Then we went to Sacre-Cœur to see the views of Paris at night. We experienced the church, music, and food up there. We decided a perfect ending to the night would be seeing the Eiffel Tour lit up, little did we think that we would get lost for an hour and half trying to find our way there. I did notice on the metro that the stereotype of Americans being loud is quite accurate. As a group, we talk very loud compared to the locals on the metro. Running through the stations and finally finding the Eiffle Tower was a crazy and fun adventure that I will not forget.

Wednesday was the day I had highly anticipated. The class was heading to Paris, France. Everyone woke up early in the morning and we met at the train station to depart. Not knowing what train stations entailed, the station we left from was very nice, and had many cute stores and boutiques. I made a last minute purchase before departing. After getting through security, which I noticed was not as strict compared to the US, we were boarding our train. It was nice to relax, nap, and read on the train to Paris. It went by fairly quickly. We arrived in Paris, and rode the metro to our hotel. After quickly settling in, we visited Notre Dame. It was absolutely architecturally stunning. It reminds you how rich the catholic church was back in the day. We then went on to explore the streets of Paris stopping at Sainte Chapelle, Bastille, and Shakespeare and Company. We then made it back to the hotel and went to the group dinner. I was surprised after talking to people that they did not like the food at the little prince because I really enjoyed it. It was fun to talk to everyone, and learn more about one another while enjoying a meal.

Our last day in England was filled with a bunch of group activities. In the morning, we made our way to West Minister Abby on the tube. This was one of my favorite portions of the trip during London. I enjoyed the tour guide and learning more about the different aspects of the church. It was cool to understand all of the history that has been in that building. Afterwards, we walked past the Elizabeth Tower to the London Eye. It was cool to see London in a different perspective. The group did lunch on their own and met back up at the Royal Society. My favorite part of the royal society was seeing the artifacts like the telescope from Newton. It was cool to walk around the society after discussing it in class. A few of us after the tour walked to Buckingham palace. I was disappointed we did not see any of the guards though. I walked to a tube station and visited Kensington palace by myself. It was nice to walk in the park and enjoy that side of London. I also walked past all of the countries’ embassies which was neat. I met back with the group for our Indian dinner which I did not know England was known for. I met up with friends, from OSU on break, for drinks later in the night! It was good to catch up with them, and give them some recommendations. It was a packed day, but a great way to end our time in England.

This was our free day in England, and I was very excited. Gianna and I decided to go take a train to Oxford. We had a few bumps getting to the train station, but when we did it went smoothly! We got on a train and rode to Oxford. It was nice to see the country side of England. Our plan for Oxford was to just walk around and explore the Universities and city. All of the stone buildings were so beautiful. We walked around a cute covered market. We walked near Christ Church, Magdalen College, and University of Oxford. We stopped to get afternoon tea at Queen’s Lane Coffee House, which is the oldest working coffee house. We had english tea and tea sandwiches. We continued to explore Oxford campus specifically. We saw beautiful buildings that Harry Potter was filmed. We eaves dropped on a few walking tours to pick up new information. We explored the Guinness Book of World Record’s largest single room dedicated to book sales which was really cool. Afterwards, we made our way back to the train station and stopped at Ashmolean Museum. The long train ride wore Gianna and I out, so we grabbed dinner in China town. Later in the night, a few of us visited the Jon Snow bar. It was a great day exploring England a bit more.

The second day of the trip I woke up and had the traditional English breakfast with tomatoes, black pudding, and eggs. Then we met up and walked past the blue plaques near the Georgian homes. After exploring the neighborhood, we walked to the British museum, and it was interesting to explore the museum on our own. I appreciated being able to explore the museum on our own and finding what we were interested in. Once we felt that we explored the museum enough, we took the tube to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We had a chance to walk around the cathedral before the next mass. We took our stereotypical telephone booth picture right outside the cathedral as well. Then we walked around London to a few other landmarks. We walked over the river to see Shakespeare’s Globe. We stopped and got food along the way to the London tower bridge. It was very cool to see the bridge after seeing it featured in so many movies. The architecture of the bridge was very beautiful. The next tourist stop we took the tube to was the Abbey Road where the Beatles’ recording studio and famous crosswalk picture was taken. It was funny to see all of the drivers getting mad at the tourists taking pictures crossing the street. We walked around a bit more then made our way back to the hotel. Then a big group of us went to a Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, Bread Street Kitchen, ending the night with dessert.

After a long trip, we arrived in London and immediately took a trip to Charles Darwin Downe House. It was a pretty journey driving through the country side of England after getting over driving on the small roads with our big bus. Then we arrived at George and Dragon pub where I had a traditional chicken and leek pie. Then we walked over to Charles Darwin’s house where we explored his house. I liked exploring the greenhouses that he had once done research in. After walking around, we drove to our hotel and had a bus tour of London. That was interesting to see our surrounding and drive past some important landmarks. After ending the tour at our hotel, I went out to a local pub to get the traditional fish and chips!