Author: petronzio.1

To be honest, the beginning of this day was slightly rough. Olivia and I should not be allowed to do stuff on our own. We kept going places that were closed or had really long lines and so for the first several hours we saw almost nothing. May or may not have gotten ourselves directly in the middle of the protesting, but we got out of there quickly so it turned out alright.

We did go to Luxembourg Palace which was really a cool little park. There were little kids sailing boats in the little pond which was probably something I would have done as a child so it made me smile. 

After all the chaos of not finding anything we wanted to see, we actually ended up having a really nice night. I spent way too much money shopping and buying gifts today so hopefully my bank account doesn’t hate me.

We went back to the place du tertre and I got the best crepe I’ve ever had that I’ve probably thought about it every day since I had it. Had another crepe later that day, it was also very delicious, but nothing will live up to this overpriced beauty.

This was the MOST exhausting day of the trip.

First we went to the Eiffel Tower, which was really beautiful, but more just a cool experience that I can now say I have done. My favorite museum was el muse de l’homme. To be honest it took me a minute to find the entrance so this could be my own fault, but I wish that we had more time to spend in this museum. We then had time to get lunch before going to  he Pasteur museum , which was rough not gonna lie, but we all made it through. We then headed to the musee de arts et metiers. This museum was cool and the tour guide was pretty fun but we had been to so many museums that by the end of the day none of us could even stand. Went to dinner and went to bed early (big shock).

We went to the Jardin de Plantes and saw a bunch of museums today. I really enjoyed the comparative anatomy museum because anatomy is my favorite subject. I ended up spending the majority of my time in this museum.

We took a trip to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, which was kinda anti-climactic, but still really beautiful. After we went to the Musee de Orssay, which was actually the museum I researched in the beginning of the semester so it was really cool to actually see this. I was pretty crabby this day probably from lack of sleep (Meemaw needs her 10 hours a night), so I just head back to the hotel to relax for a bit and ended up falling asleep before our group dinner. The group dinner ended up just being 7 of us, which was really fun because I felt like I got to know everyone a little better and spend more time with Caroline and John.

Today we left London and headed to Paris on the Eurostar. I spent 35 pounds that I accidentally had forgotten to spend on a Harry Potter sweater from King’s Cross (not mad about this purchase at all). 

Overall I really enjoyed London. I think I learned a few things about the culture and about myself. One thing being that it is possible for me to drink more tea than I do in the U.S.

The trip on the Eurostar wasn’t too bad, I did a few things of homework and was just excited to finally get to Paris. We checked into our hotel room and for some reason had the worlds longest hallway in our room, which would later become an issue for me when I needed to get to the bathroom at the end of the hall in the middle of the night in the pitch black.

This first night in Paris was the best time of the whole trip! We saw a bunch of sights (pretty much all of the sights that I wanted to see in Paris) all in one night. We went to Notre Dame first, which was really beautiful. Then John, Quent, Olivia, Anu and I headed to place du tertre, the place that the nice English couple told us about. We got lost (Johns fault), but stumbled across a rainbow, the sacre-coeur and a beautiful view.

Once we finally got to the place du tertre it was a beautiful art district which turned out to be one of my favorite places in Paris. We had dinner at a little restaurant that had a very sad piano player and never gave us any water to drink no matter how many times we asked.

We then went to the Arc de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, and the unofficial Princess Diana memorial. We even ended up getting lost for quite some time (Johns fault again), but who’s keeping track.

Today was the peak of my sickness, definitely thought I wasn’t going to make it through the whole day. We went to Westminster Abbey which was so beautiful, but very crowded so it was hard for me to see everything. I liked this guided tour though because without it I wouldn’t have really known what anything was or known some of the things that he told us.

We went on the London eye, this was a beautiful view and a good way to get out of the rain. After that, we went to a very good Lebanese restaurant where I had Shawarma for the first time, I was skeptical, but it was very good. Then we took a tour of the Royal Society, which was actually really interesting despite what I imagined. I felt like my inner nerd was coming out.

We then visited Buckingham Palace which was so beautiful and just cool to see, but definitely not what I was expecting. We then had a group dinner at an Indian restaurant that was pretty good. I spent the rest of the night recovering from my illness and relaxing, which I really needed if I was going to make it through the rest of this trip.

This was the free day and we started off having no clue what we wanted to do, which is typical of my life.

We finally decided to just head out towards St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was such a beautiful day and I could not believe how amazing it was. We then saw the London bridge, Tower of London, and the recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe. We stopped at Borough Market for food.

 

We took a tour of the Tower Bridge was so cool! We got a good student deal to see the engine room and the tower bridge for only 6 pounds.

 

Olivia and I went to the Harry Potter 9 & ¾ in King Cross which was something I was really excited about because I absolutely love Harry Potter. I bought way too many souvenirs here.

We went to Chinatown for dinner with John and it was very delicious, best dumplings I’ve ever had. We also met a really great British couple that were completely loaded and they gave us advice on where we should go once we got to Paris. This was a very fun dinner and a very eventful day.

We went to the Brittish Museum which was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. My personal favorite area was the Parthenon and also the rooms that contained huge stone statues or walls that had the carvings in them. After the British museum we went to Camden market which was so unique and very fun to see all the little trinkets that were being sold. I was being cheap, so I didn’t buy anything, but I do regret that now.

After that a group of us decided to go to Kensington park and to see the Kensington Palace. Kensington Park was actually so cool that we ended up spending at least 3 hours there, which was way more than we thought we would. 10/10 recommend going here and just exploring on your own, not even just going to the palace.

We came across green birds that would land on you if you had food and this was so fun. One of the best parts of the trip I love birds so much.

I got to go to a Princess Diana Memorial which was also super exciting because she was one of my favorite people when I was a kid. We came across a memorial to Prince Albert that was so big and magnificent that I was mesmerized. We then saw Kensington Palace and then went back home to get dinner and drinks. Overall, this was one of my favorite days of the whole trip.

After several centuries of traveling we finally arrived in London and took a bus to Downe. The bus driver was pretty brutal in his driving (also slightly aggressive). When we arrived I had a very good chicken pie at George & Dragon, even though I was so nauseous from traveling that I could barely eat it. We then went to Darwins House which was pretty interesting. I realized that I took a rock there because it fell out of my purse a few days ago, hopefully no one reports me to the authorities. Not gonna lie, we were at Downe house for a little too long because we were all really exhausted and ran out of things to look at. After that we all passed out on the bus then finally got back to the hotel, went to dinner and relaxed because I was so jet lagged and sick from the plane.