Author: Jenna

Today we got up very early to catch the flight back home. I thought it was so nice of the hotel staff to still put out breakfast for us despite the early hour! The flight this time actually felt shorter than the flight last week, but I think that is because I was struggling to fall asleep during last week’s flight. The airplane food was really good in my opinion, I loved the ravioli especially~

This trip has been incredible and I am so thankful for the opportunity to have explored two major cities on my bucket list. It had the perfect balance of free time and group time, and I loved the number of museums that were incorporated into our daily schedules in both the cities. Not only did I get to visit some landmarks and learn about the rich culture, I also learned a lot while exploring with a class full of spectacular people.

For our final day, I spent the morning bright and early at Versailles. The entire mansion was beautiful, decked out in paintings and chandeliers and a lot of materialistic things. I cannot imagine ever living in a house that big, I feel like it was maybe triple the size of my high school building! We took the metro to Sacred Heart afterwards, which was gorgeous. I think this was by far my favorite building among all the cathedrals and buildings we’ve seen throughout the trip. It was a beauty sitting on the top of the hill in the bright blue skies! We shopped in the area since there were a lot of local vendors and boutiques, buying crepes and gelato as we strolled the streets.

On the way back in the metro station, I almost got pick pocketed!!! It was definitely a busy hour since the area was so crowded. I put my phone in my pocket and zipped it up as I was walking to the stairs. As I was going down the stairs, I looked to my right and see this hand UNZIPPING my coat pocket with my phone and reaching two fingers inside! I was so shocked and angry and looked at the man and said “NO.” in probably the most stern tone I have ever used in my life. He stopped walking and pushed his way back up the stairs, in the opposite direction of the crowd. I knew pickpocketers were a huge concern coming in to this city, so I’ve been holding my purse everywhere I go and zipping my pockets…but I hadn’t thought of the fact that they are also just as likely to unzip your belongings to get to them too! Lesson learned, and I am just so thankful I didn’t get this new phone stolen.

Later, I went with Caroline and Madison to get cheese from a fromagerie and chocolate from stores she had made a mental note on! We had to trace our steps back to the area we walked past on the first day after Notre Dame, and it was so worth it. The area was so cute and lively with it being a Saturday night, and I ended up getting two kinds of brie to bring back to the US and share with my family. We got dinner at a nice restaurant where we were seated outdoors. We were soaking in every last piece of Paris culture for our final evening. We later went to see a piece of street art done by Banksy, which I had not heard of until this trip!

I got back to the hotel and my friend from high school, Nes, was here! Nes was an exchange student for one year at my high school, but lives in Paris. It was so nice to see her and catch up—I can’t believe it had already been 3 years since we’d last seen each other!

Today we went back to the Eiffel tower as a class, but this time we got to go inside and up the building! I can’t believe it was originally supposed to be made as a temporary structure, and then be taken back down! Little did they know it’d soon be a landmark that the whole world would know about…

We visited the Musee de L’Homme afterwards, which was really interactive. While the majority of the descriptions about the exhibits were in French, the museum itself was still so interactive that I was able to learn about the different species of man long ago. I thought the piercing exhibit was really cool too, and I did not know that in some countries, the more (or deeper/bigger) piercings you have, the wealthier you are!

Madison and I packed sandwiches we made from the breakfast food at the hotel, and it was actually so delicious in the croissant!! While everyone was looking for restaurants for lunch, we went to a boulangeree with John and got coffee and pastries. I got this chocolate tart with ganache on the inside and it might have been my favorite pastry I’ve had in Paris yet.

We went to the Pasteur museum in the Pasteur Institute afterwards, and I thought it was neat to see where his labs were, his bedroom, living space, and where he was buried. I learned that despite the groundbreaking discoveries he made, he wanted to buried right in that building between his two labs where most of his work was done.

We went to Musee de Arts & Metiers afterwards, which was actually a museum I knew I wanted to go to before reading the itinerary! Our tour guide was funny, but I kind of wish we had more time to look around the museum on our own since we had to walk past a lot of the exhibits I was interested in looking more into. I hope to learn more about the evolution of transportation in the future!

Today we spent the morning in the Jardin des Plantes and the museums in that area. I really enjoyed the comparative anatomy museum; it was definitely the most extensive museum of bones I have seen yet. As an anatomy TA myself, I thought it was so cool to compare various bones on different animals. It was insane seeing some of the skeletons of extinct species upstairs—I cannot imagine animals that big just roaming around! Emily and I went to an African tea and pastry shop afterwards, where I got a small pistachio pastry called Sbaelarrous. We then went to Musee d’Orsay where we saw a bunch of paintings by Monet and Van Gough, and then the Musee d’ Orangeree where we saw the stunning panoramics by Monet. I usually am pretty indifferent when it comes to art museums, but these ones were really special because they held paintings that I had learned about growing up in my art classes.

We went to Galeries Lafayette to shop for a little, but I ended up going to H&M even though they have it in the US…

Dinner was delicious too, I tried the escargot! It was so flavorful that I ended up dipping my bread in the olive oil sauce that came out of the shells. We went to the Eiffel tower at night, and we were so lucky that we happened to get there right on the hour that it started twinkling. The Eiffel Tower is just as beautiful as I expected it to be in person!

Today we took the Eurostar from London to Paris, which took only a few hours! I was so excited to get to Paris, and I think the amount of time we spent in London was perfect. We walked to Notre Dame, which was absolutely stunning. We passed so many boulangerees, and all the pastries looked incredible…I love baking and I think it would be so cool to work in a boulangeree in Paris for some time!!

We got dinner at Le Petit Prince de Paris, which was so delicious. I got pork cheeks as my main course, and crème brulee as my dessert! Definitely will have to come back here in the future. My French is pretty horrible, but I hope I can improve on my pronunciation of the basic greeting words. Thank goodness most people in the city know English as well!

Today we toured around Westminister Abbey! It was a BEAUTIFUL building both on the interior and exterior. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter scene in the hallways due to the design with the open windows to the courtyard. It was felt unreal to be literally standing at where famous people were buried, like Darwin and the Bronte sisters. It’s interesting that Darwin and his wife were buried separately, and even more interesting that he was buried in a cathedral which was controversial with his works on evolution. We toured the Royal Society in the afternoon, and I found it most interesting to look at the physical pages of writings from that famous scientists at some of the very first Royal Society meetings.

We went to Gopal’s of Soho for dinner, where I got matar paneer! Emily and I then went to see the play Mousetrap, which apparently is the longest running show in London’s version of Broadway. I had never heard of the play before, it was a murder mystery and I ended up loving it!

Today we went to Stonehenge! This is one of the things I was looking forward to the most about this trip. Among the world wonders, I had seen the Great Wall before and I was excited to check this one off my list. I was so excited about how close we were allowed to get to the stones, and how nice the weather turned out that day! The skies were so blue. After Stonehenge, we went to Borough’s market which had an abundance of options for lunch. I ended up getting fish and chips since I hadn’t tried it yet, and I will say it was just as good as I expected it to be. In the evening we went to King’s Cross station to take a photo with the iconic Platform 9¾ from Harry Potter!

 

Today we went to the British Museum in the morning. My favorite exhibit was probably the one covering the life of a man and a woman and all the drugs that they took from birth to death. It’s interesting how medication has evolved in the last century—while it has improved many medical conditions, it has also lead to many cases of overdose. St. Paul’s Cathedral was absolutely stunning. The design of both the interior and the exterior was so beautiful and I’m still in awe with how they were able to build it so intricately with the lack of construction technology that we have today. During our free half day, we walked past Shakespeare’s Globe, which I found so cool to see in person after remembering seeing pictures in my textbooks in high school. We walked across Tower Bridge, which was beautiful but WINDY! We also walked past London bridge, which didn’t appear as magnificent as Tower Bridge despite the famous song. We went to Abbey Road to take the classic Beatles album cover photo and look at the studio. Surprisingly there was a decent amount of traffic through that street, and I’m sure the drivers were frustrated by all of us tourists crowding the street every other car passing…

Most of the shops were closed since it was Sunday so we walked around the Notting Hill residential areas, which were so quaint. For dinner, I went to Gordan Ramsay’s Bread Company restaurant which was amazing. While the food was definitely delicious, I wonder if that was overhyped due to the ongoing thought that it was a Gordon Ramsay restaurant..

Today we went to George & Dragon for lunch! It was interesting to see the traffic with the cars driving on the left side of the road. The Shepard’s pie from George & Dragon was delicious, it reminded me a lot of a chicken pot pie but heavier. I loved listening to the British accents, and I hope to learn how to speak with a British accent better by the end of this stay. The Downe house was so neat to explore, it was crazy to imagine Darwin sitting in the room I walked in writing the Origin of Species! Walking around his garden reminded me a lot of the scenes portrayed in the movie we watched, and I just imagined him sitting by the tree watching his children play in the yard. The residential area was such a quaint area, and I adored the style of houses! Emily and I went to Chinatown for dinner, which was really similar to the other Chinatowns I’ve been to around the US!