Brenden Alkire’s Travel Journal

The earliest and saddest morning that most of us were dreading for most of the trip was finally upon us. We had to check out of the hotel early in order to get to the airport to board the flight home to Minnesota. After double and triple checking I had everything, I was prepared for the long venture back.

The flight to Minnesota was much more pleasing than the initial flight over the Atlantic. The timing was much better, and it seemed much easier to sleep since we weren’t interrupted at what seemed like every two minutes. I played some nice games of chess, read some more of The Andromeda Strain, watched a movie, and stressed over the upcoming O-Chem exam I was probably going to fail (UPDATE: I definitely failed).

Our flight was behind schedule, so we had to rush in order to make our next flight from the Minnesota airport. Luckily, we caught a ride from one of the employees who drives the indoor vehicles, so we were able to expedite ourselves to the correct terminal. After such a long flight, the flight to Columbus was over in no time, and just like that we were back in beautiful Ohio.

Even with all of the sights to see and the thrill of being in two different foreign countries, my favorite part of the entire trip was getting so much closer to all of my peers. It sounds cliche, but I found that being in a foreign country with only each other to rely on can draw you close, and in some cases skip the initial “get to know you” phase of a relationship. Because of that, I feel like I have known some people for much longer than three weeks at this point. I feel like I got so much closer to everyone else than I was before, and it was the people that really made the trip worth it. And for that, I thank you all.

A pretty large group of us ventured off to Versailles to kick off our last full day abroad. It was sad to know it was the last day we had together in Europe, but a part of me was ready to come home as well. I wouldn’t say that it because of anything specific, but on any trip I go on, no matter how long, I always tend to be ready to come home as the end approaches. Versailles was a huge area to explore, and the layout of the entire property was phenomenal, but the tour around left a lot to be desired. Most of the rooms seemed similar to one another, yet they all were still beautiful. My favorite was the chandelier room, just because of how overly elegant and over the top it seemed. Did they need that many chandeliers? Probably not. But is it awesome to have that many in a room, and does it really show how majestic you are? Absolutely.

Our next destination was one last stop at church, Sacré-Cœur. It was a gigantic, beautiful church on a hill, and the placement of it couldn’t have been better. This was my favorite view of Paris, even though it may not have been as high up as the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower. I wasn’t as impressed at the inside as I was the outside, but that is testament to how amazing the outside truly was, because voyaging around the inside of the structure was a great time as well. Sacré-Cœur is definitely one of the most slept on areas of Paris as far as I can tell, and it gives some great photo-ops, such as my most favorite from the entire trip.

Next, we ventured around the nearby shopping district, which had some great little art shops, along with another experience with a street band. I didn’t buy anything, but I was tempted to a few different times. I thought it was interesting to see how many different small, local art shops there were in both London and Paris. The pieces were a bit too pricey for me, as well as not having enough room in my duffel bag to bring them back home, but on a future trip when I actually have money (yet again, hopefully!) and more room they will definitely be on my radar.

A large group of us decided to find somewhere nice to eat to spend the rest of our Euros, and that meal was one of the best I had my entire time in Paris. There was some problem arising from the fact that restaurants for some reason cannot split bills (which I still don’t get), but in the end it all sorted itself out. It was nice to have an evening to relax after such an exhausting, yet very fun-filled trip.

Day 8 started off with a class trip to the Eiffel Tower, which I know I was excited to see for the first time up close. Of course, a lot of my family members were telling me “Make sure to get a ton of pictures of the Eiffel Tower!”, so I had a lot of responsibility going into it. It was impressive up close, but overall I would say underwhelming. Going up the tower, though, was a different story. I thought the view from the second floor was gorgeous, and the wind created an atmosphere that seemed typical yet exciting. I wish we could have gone up farther, but it was apparently never within the plans of Mother Nature to allow us to do that.

After a nice little visit at the Musée de l’Homme, we had lunch at what I think was an American themed restaurant that was pretty good. They were able to split the bill too, which is something I will make sure never to take for granted again here in the states. We visited a few more huge cathedrals, and I was yet again amazed at the effort it had to take to create such beautiful architecture. I was also surprised at the sheer number of large cathedrals in the city, but after thinking about it I shouldn’t be that surprised.

We reconvened as a class in front of the Pasteur Institute for a guided tour that not many people get to experience. I thought it was cool going in, as this institute was mentioned in a book I am currently reading (The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton). The lady giving the presentation was incredibly nice, and it was evident that she was passionate, but in all honesty I couldn’t understand most of the things she was saying. I was able to make inferences based off of prior knowledge from class and the movie, but I feel as if it would have been much more enjoyable had we been given a better tour guide. Most of the class was obviously tired as well, so I felt slightly bad for the tour guide, as none of it was really her fault, but I was just hoping that she didn’t notice. It was still fascinating to see so many of the things we have been talking about this whole semester, and yet again just getting to witness the environment in which this extraordinary scientists was subject to work in will make for a great memory, along with future appreciation for my working conditions (hopefully!).

The next museum we visited was the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which I had a great amount of appreciation for. I am a huge technology guy, so seeing how technology has advanced over the centuries was really fun to me. I also think technology is the most important factor in advancing as a society, so hearing our guide’s opinions on the internet were a bit alarming. I’m not a fan of going back to “the bucket system”, but if that is what needs to be done then I guess it will be done. Our guide had a great sense of humor, but I wish we had more time for both a tour, and more importantly some time on our own to venture around and look more into each showcase they had, because I feel like there was a lot of history that we missed out on.

Overall, day 8 was one of the most informative, yet definitely was one of the most exhausting. It would have been more enjoyable had these guided tours been spread out a bit more, and I would have loved to have more time in the Musée des Arts et Métiers.

Day 7 started off on the wrong foot for me, as I got a really bad night of sleep. I woke up multiple times in the middle of the night super hot and had trouble sleeping in general. This made the morning especially rough, as I had a headache from a mix of exhaustion and dehydration. Even with that, however, I was ready to explore.

As a class, we headed to the Jardin des plantes to check out some of the surrounding museums. The first one that we were strongly encouraged to visit was the paleontology museum, which was probably my favorite museum in all of Paris. Like I said before, I have always had a strong interest in prehistoric life and paleontology, so everything in here was right up my alley. I even was able to use some of my knowledge from a dynamics of dinosaurs class I took last semester (highly recommended) to give some people a very unofficial and probably uninformative guided tour of parts of the museum. I really enjoyed looking at some of the specimens, and it was interesting to view some of the differences between this museum and the natural history museum in London, which was presented very differently yet contained many of the same kinds of specimens.

Following this, a small group of us went to the Paris Zoo. It was such a different feel from any other zoo I have ever been in. It seemed very condensed, yet contained at least the same amount of, if not more, animals than all of the others that come to mind (Columbus Zoo and London Zoo). They also made sure to give each exhibit more of a natural feel than you typically will find in a zoo, which I appreciated. The Paris Zoo was very close to the London Zoo on my list, if not higher (I don’t remember what I ranked the London Zoo as in my previous post, oops).

Following a small stint at the zoo, an even smaller group of us went back near the hotel and stopped by the Pantheon of Paris, which I learned was somewhat based off of the much more famous Pantheon in Rome. It was outside here that we got our first experience with the street bands that you see pretty periodically in parts of Paris, and I could only say positive things about them and their musical talents. The Pantheon was a great experience to have once for sure, but I don’t know if I will ever go back. The most interesting part was the basement where various historical figures are buried, as it seemed like it had not been touched for the most part, ignoring the obvious safety measures they put in place and the information plaques telling us what things actually are.

The next stop on the agenda was to travel back to Sainte-Chapelle and see what was actually inside now that they’re open. It was one of the most beautiful structures I have ever been in, and the upstairs was absolutely breathtaking. The stain-glass windows were amazing, and this whole structure made me wonder how they build these massive structures back then so easily, and how they did it seemingly without many architectural problems either.

After Sainte-Chapelle, we headed to the largest art museum in the world, The Louvre. I could definitely tell how huge it was from a mile away, as the outside looks like a sort of palace in itself. I was excited to get to the entrance pyramid in the middle, as it is obviously a well known world destination. I have had interest in The Louvre since The Da Vinvi Code, the book by Dan Brown, so I was excited to finally get to experience it for myself.

The Louvre seemed larger than it even appeared, which is everything you can ask for in an art museum. It would be easy to go there for a day and get completely lost. It is definitely somewhere I could picture myself going every time I visit Paris in my lifetime, as I feel like you would have a new experience with every visit. We got to see the Mona Lisa painting, which I still don’t really get the hype for, but it’s cool to say I have seen it. It was unfortunate that my legs hurt pretty bad, as I feel like that took away from having total enjoyment during this visit, but it is something I would very much suggest to anyone visiting Paris.

The last stop for the night was the Arc de Triomphe, which was my favorite place in all of Paris. Even though it was exhausting, the climb to the top was a rewarding experience. It was fascinating how it seemed as if the entire city emitted from this one central point, as there were straight roads going in every direction you looked out over. We also got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, which is something not everyone gets to do in their life.

Overall, though exhausting, day 7 was my favorite day we had in Paris. I am glad the feeling of misery I woke up with eventually faded and was replaced with both excitement and exhilaration by the end of the day.

Day 6 started off bright and early in the lobby of the hotel with all of our bags packed and ready to head out to Paris. It was disappointing to leave the great city of London, but I was excited to move on to the highly rated Paris half of the trip. After a little bit of watching bags and not knowing where to throw away garbage, we went through security checks and boarded the high-speed train to Paris. The train was pretty much as was expected, but it was more than comfortable enough to take a nice nap on the way.

After departing the train, we hauled our bags through Paris (unfortunately, a little more than was necessary) and to our hotel. The hotel was immediately different from the one in London, as it felt much more low-key and quaint, which I think I liked a little bit more. The rooms were noticeably bigger too, which I appreciated. The difference in architecture between London and the small part we have already seen of Paris was apparent.

The first thing on the agenda for the day was Notre Dame, which I was excited to see. It was a nice walk over, getting to experience more of the city, yet it wasn’t a very long distance either. When arriving at Notre Dame, it was evident of how imposing it was, and it was shown why it is such a tourist attraction. I journeyed around the inside for a bit, and then exited to make sure to get some pictures.

Following Notre Dame, a group of us broke off and went to visit Sainte-Chapelle, which was unfortunately closed for tours for the day. We still were able to venture around the outside, which was enjoyable nonetheless. I was impressed at the large structure, but was left slightly confused as to why there were two Catholic cathedrals so close to one another. To this day I still don’t know the answer to that question.

We continued to adventure around the city and just explore a little bit. We passed by Bastille, and circled our way back to Notre Dame and back to the hotel. It was nice to get to know the surrounding area some more while still getting some nice photo-ops and experiencing some of the local culture.

Overall, day 6 was enjoyable, yet won’t be one of the highlights of the trip since a lot of it was travel. It was a nice introduction to the future story that would take place in Paris, however.

Day 5 started off with a trip to Westminster Abbey, which I thought was a great time in general. I really loved our tour guide, as he seemed like such a happy-go-lucky person that was overly content with his job, as well as being very knowledgeable. It was great to stand above all of the people we have been “worshiping” in class this year, as it kind of felt like everything came in a full circle. Even with all of the famous British scientists in the vicinity, I thought the most intriguing part of the tour were the couple of the American references that our tour guide pointed out. They had a statue commemorating FDR (I think?), as well as another document on a pillar near the center of the room. I was wondering why they included these, but then realized it could have been due to something related to WWII. The most influential area of Westminster Abbey was the knights room, where I finally decided what my future career will entail.

From Westminster Abbey, we continued to another popular tourist destination in London: the London Eye. Unfortunately, it was raining, so it was hard to get any good pictures. However, it was still well worth the experience, and if I ever do visit London again I would love to go back up on a sunny day.

After the large group separated for lunch, we rejoined to visit the Royal Society, which I found to be much more fun than I imagined. I honestly had almost no idea what to expect, but what I experienced was much different. The guide we had was so enjoyable, and the information he was presenting was exciting as well, making for a great experience overall. My favorite part was the death mask of Isaac Newton that he showed us. It was super interesting because not many people get to see it, and Isaac Newton is obviously one of the biggest and most important figures of all time. I also have had a weird interest in death masks in the past (thanks to Dan Brown novels), so it was just a great end to a tour that I would highly suggest to anybody.

A group of us continued to the not far away Buckingham Palace where we spent a short amount of time. The most interesting part of this entire area were the, what I thought, obvious comparisons to the White House. Of course, the main leader of each country resides in each place, which is the most glaring similarity. But the size of the buildings, along with the beautiful landscaping and fencing around them are strikingly similar to me. Buckingham Palace gives a more outdated vibe, but honestly not as much of a difference as I was expecting.

Although this day was incredibly tiring, I thought it was a great way to spend the last day in London, and it definitely allowed me to leave the city on a great note.

A group of us started off day 4 by going out and finding a little donut place to eat breakfast. I ate one of the best glazed donuts of my life, and drank a pretty okay cup of hot chocolate. We decided to go back to the British Museum as early as possible because there were a couple things we missed, but we also wanted to stop by the gift shop and buy a few souvenirs.

After spending too much money, we trekked to Borough Market to eat lunch. I will say, Borough Market was a bit of a let-down only because I figured there would be some other shops instead of only food, but that was partially my fault for not doing enough research. I had a pretty good bacon, egg, and sausage sandwich along with some chips. Probably the worst part of the day was trying to find somewhere that sold something to drink, but we found one eventually. It was an interesting experience because there were so many different food joints to choose from, and that kind of style isn’t typically something that is found here in the US.

We explored downtown London some more where there were some of the prettiest sights I have ever seen. My favorite was a little plaza about halfway between London Bridge and Tower Bridge that gave off a very modern vibe, yet was right across from old school London. This was a great example of a paradigm shift in the architecture of the city by showing new building style versus old.

After taking a ton of really great pictures, we made our way to the British Natural History Museum. To get there, we had to walk through one of the local universities which was interesting. It was neat to see some of the shallow differences from OSU and other US colleges, as the one we saw in London had a lot smaller and more of a modern technological emphasis. I do realize, however, that this was only one college and it probably isn’t a good representation of all London universities.

The Natural History Museum was definitely my favorite museum I have ever been in, pretty easily beating even the British Museum. I have always had a huge interest in natural history, and even wanted to be a paleontologist for a long time, so it wasn’t really surprising that I had such a great time here. My favorite area of the museum was obviously the dinosaur exhibit, but it also had other great ones that had to do with the human body and geological history. It was nice to walk through the museum and know what they were presenting for the most part, not only due to this class but also other biology and history classes I have taken.

We ended the day by going to Kensington Gardens and Palace. It was a really pretty place, along with Hyde Park, with maybe the biggest collection of birds I have ever seen. I wish we could have spent more time in this area, but after such a long day of walking I think most of us, definitely including myself, were pretty physically tired. We headed to a very nice restaurant called Steak and Co. where we had to cook our own meal, effectively rendering going out to eat useless. However, it was probably the most enjoyable and highest quality out of all of the restaurants I had on the entire trip, so I would highly suggest it.

After looking back through every day, I can undoubtedly say that this was the best day of them all.

After a much needed night of sleep, I was awake and ready to go for day 3. We made our way to the British Museum as Dr. Cogan led our group, making sure to point out the signs of important Brits on the buildings, as well as shifting interest to the unique architecture of the area. This area of London was exactly what I had envisioned most of London to look like, and the archaic style of the buildings was really intriguing to me.

The British Museum was definitely one of the most fun museums I have ever visited. Today, I would rank it as my second favorite museum. I have always been interested in world history, and obviously the British Empire was one of the biggest influences to ever exist. What separates this museum from most other museums is that this museum isn’t necessarily themed around one thing. It is instead themed around areas of the world, in which they have many artifacts from almost every continent. What really stood out to me was the area dedicated to the Parthenon, and it actually made me want to visit Greece for myself. I also saw a little area that mentioned Ohio, which was a fun thing to witness so far away from home.

Most of the rest of the day was spent at Camden Market, which was a lot more fun than I figured it would be going into it. I didn’t plan on spending much money so early in the trip (and luckily, I didn’t), but there was just so much to see, especially in some of the art stores. I also got to eat one of the best desserts of all time in the strawberry-banana Bubble Waffle. Following Camden Market, we went to the London Zoo where we saw the place that a scene from Harry Potter was filmed, along with some animals. I would rank the London Zoo as my second favorite zoo I have ever been to.

Overall, day three was a competitor for my favorite day on the entire trip. The British Museum will never be forgotten, and Camden Market was definitely much more enjoyable than I could have imagined it being going in.

After getting all tidied up in the London Heathrow Airport, we boarded the coach and made our way to the small town of Down in which Darwin resided for some of his life. It was a neat experience to eat in an English pub for the first time, and the fish and chips made it that much more authentic. I’m not the biggest fish person, but I could tell that the food they served was pretty high quality, and it was a great experience nonetheless.

Following dinner, we got to explore the surrounding area, and most interestingly the small church in Down. There was also a graveyard where some of Darwin’s family was buried, and it was interesting to see this after learning so much about some of them in class. We then made our way to the one and only Down House, which is also a place that England designates as a historical place, allowing for free entry as far as I could tell, which I thought was really cool.

My favorite part of the Down House was actually getting to see the atmosphere and environment in which Darwin lived his life. It is always interesting to put it into perspective and see how his quality of life compared to ours. The landscape of the entire property was beautiful too.

After Down House, we took a bus back to London and got a small bus tour of the city until we got back to our hotel. That night, we just went out and journeyed around the city a little bit to see what could be in store for the coming days.

Overall, day two felt like the longest just from how tired I was. I am pretty sure it was the most tired I have ever been in my life. But even with that, it was still an unforgettable and pleasant experience.

After rushing to complete an ochem lab report and frantically finishing my last minute packing, I headed off to the airport hoping that I had everything I needed. We sat in the airport for a little while before stressfully making our way through TSA and into the boarding area. It was a little while before we were able to board, so we played some games and relaxed. Looking back, that relaxation was probably much needed.

We finally were able to board the plane, and we were off to the Big Apple. The flight went by super fast, and the last part of the flight was actually really interesting, considering I had never seen NYC before. It was cool to see the city from a birds-eye view, even though I didn’t get to see downtown (to my knowledge). We landed and exited the flight, rushing to make our way to the next gate so we could board the long plane to London.

The flight to London was definitely tedious. I was up late the previous night, in hopes it would help me sleep on the plane, but unfortunately that wasn’t true in the slightest. I got maybe an hour of sleep total, which was much less than I was hoping for. While on the plane, however, I did get to witness a 4-of-a-kind on the river of a Texas Hold ’em game I was playing on the screen in front of me, which was pretty cool. Typically, I am a fan of free food, but I will say that they gave food at very inconvenient times. But it was free food, so I guess I can’t really complain all that much. The meal was pretty solid too, which was a pleasant surprise.