Wednesday, June 4, 2014
After months of planning, Katie and I were on
our way to London and Paris! We did a great deal
of planning months before. I sent Katie a Rick Steves
2014 London
which greatly helped her look at
things that she wanted to do, and some history
behind the places, attractions, or museums. Sean
Farris, our neighbor was a great help with websites
and travel tips.
Katie drove here on Tuesday night, and we left at
10:00 a.m. on the shuttle from St. George. The
flight was uneventful, everything went as scheduled.
I watched Saving
Mr. Banks, Guilt Trip, and Funny Face.
I have never seen Funny
Face with Audrey Hepburn and I loved it. She is this girl working in a book shop,
and Fred Astaire who is playing a photographer comes barging in with his
entourage to do a photo shoot. Most of it is shot in Paris. Guilt
Trip cracks, and I have always loved Barbra Streisand. I also took four
novels to read.
So...first mess up! I forgot that June 4th is a travel
day.
we actually received a text message from Tete saying
she was worried about us, and then I realized my
mistake, and we had booked our bike tour, too. Katie was
confident that we didn't need to worry about our tour
and we could reschedule. Tete gave us great directions
to her BnB. We hurried and dropped all our stuff, and
left for our bike tour....and so now the date is June
5th.
Our bike tour took us to Trafalgar Square, Big Ben,
Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Kensington
Palace, plus we were able to bike through Hyde and
Kensington Park. The weather was gorgeous.
Because of the rain earlier, many had cancelled their
bike tour that day,so it was only Katie and I with our guide whose name was
Max. He told us about himself, and I also told him about ourselves, and
told him about Taylor serving a mission in Tonga. He is an actor on the side. After
the bike tour, we got some dinner, and went back to our BnB. That night, we
slept great. BnB is a website where people can post their home for others to
come and stay. It is not like a traditional BnB. They provide food items
for breakfast, and you
are on your own basically.
We got up early and took the train to Warner Brother
Studios - Harry Potter Tour. The tour was so fun. Diagon Alley, The Great Hall,
costumes. We took lots of pictures, and bought some butterbeer. Took the
train back, and went to the British Museum. We also went to Leicester Square
and bought half price tickets to see Wicked.
Right by Leicester Square is just a short walk to Covent Garden. We ate at a nice fast food restaurant -
burger and fries. We grabbed a pasty for our dinner, and we were literally
eating it in the theatre.The play was fantastic!
Saturday, June 7
Tower of London - This is one of my favorite spots! When
you come out of the tube, there is this amazing view of the Tower and the
Bridge. We arrived there around 9:45, and there was a Beefeater Tour starting
at 10:00 a.m. but it started to pour. We had an umbrella, so no problem, but
the Beefeater said,
"Let's all go sit in the church, and I can talk to
you in there." It was still really fun, but Katie didn't get to hear all the little stories
they tell, beheadings, murders, etc. The White Tower has changed a bit.
Everything is digitized, as I soon will find out with other sites we visited. For
instance, instead of just walking in a room with medieval armor, there is a big
screen with pictures and
information about what is in the room you are standing
in. We saw the jewels as well. Katie really liked the Henry VIII stuff. We went
across the bridge and found some lunch. There were these little booths with
authentic food from other countries. I picked one from Brazil - corn pancake
filled with black beans, avocado, and feta cheese. It was really good. Then we
walked for quite awhile
to Shakespeare's Globe. A little disappointed because we
arrived there right
around 2:00 for a play, and this happened to be a week
where they were doing everything in sign language. We took some pictures
and hung out in the bookstore, of course. Katie started to get an idea of
how I love to collect postcards.
I decided that we should go to the Sir John Soane museum.
First of all, we
got lost for quite awhile. The museum was super hard to
find, no signs, and
in a weird part of town, second, once we found it, it was
stupid! We finally
had to ask these two girls who had cell phones to look it
up. When they did,
they said, well it says we are standing right in it!
Haha, so literally, it was
was a collector, but it was hot, dark, crowded, and not
much cool stuff.
Went to evensong at Westminster Abbey at 5:00 p.m. It was
really cool, and
this is free to the public. We couldn't really walk
around and see everything, but Katie snuck some pictures! Ha!
Sunday, June 8
I had put down the church address for us to go to, but
after looking at our
itinerary for the chunnel to Paris, we decided it would
be too much of a
hassle carrying our luggage and all. And I might add
here, we did awesome
bags to conservate room, which really works, and took
minimal clothing.
We made it to the train station, and we were on our way
to Paris! We
arrived in Paris around 3:00 p.m. and we had lost one
hour. Our hotel was
supposed to be close, but it wasn't. We finally got a cab
and he even had
a hard time finding it. We only paid our Nigerian cabby
10 euros. The hotel Ibis
was great. They are minimal, but very clean, and mod. The
only place we could
work our phones was in our BnB or hotels. That is the
only place to get free
wifi. Katie and Nate had an APP that they could text each
other that was
cool. I send Rick emails every night.
We navigated the metro. I had not done the metro since I
was 19, and we did a good job. Katie became the navigator. We decided to
head to the Arch de Triumph. I loved all the tourists that were
surrounding it. People taking pictures, eating, very busy, and it was really warm. We
rented a bike driver to take us down the Champs Elysees and to the Tuileries
Gardens. This is where we bought a gelato. These gelatos looked like
roses. Very good and
very pretty. Then, we went back home.
Monday, June 9
I had heard that you could go to the side of Notre Dame
and pay a small fee
to climb up to the top the see the gargoyles. Well, apparently,
the word is out because there was a great big line. So, we bagged
that, and just went in and admired the flying buttresses, medieval architecture,
stained glass windows. Saint Chappelle is just around the corner. We
bought our museum passes there which greatly helped us for the next two
days. Then, we headed to the Louvre. I was greatly disappointed in the
Louvre this time.
I have been there about 3 times, and I have always
enjoyed it, but they were renovating a few things, and Rick Steves' guided
tour did not work.
Finally, we just did our own thing. But it was hot and
crowded which I find
interesting. Don't they need some kind of temperature
control?? The Venus de Milo was being renovated, disappointing. Oh
well. We sat down at a cute little cafe and bought a panini, pasta salad,
and a nutella crepe.
Then, we went back to our hotel for an hour before our
2nd Fat Tire Bike Tour. It took us about 55
minutes to get there because it was across town by the Eiffel Tower - which we had not even seen yet -
The bike tour had a bunch of Americans - loud, nosy, talkative, funny - it
was just what we needed! We met some fun people, and our tour guide was
funny, too.
He was from California. This bike tour really was a legit
bike ride. We rode all over with these orange vests. Stopped for some gelato
at the famous Berthillon. Went through the Latin quarters, Pont des
Arts Bridge (love lock bridge). Katie had bought these cute little pink locks,
and we wrote on them with permanent marker - KB loves RB and the date. We
locked them on
the bridge. Earlier that day, part of a bridge had broken
because of all the weight of the locks, and they had to replace it. Then, we
got on a boat cruise that was included on this night bike tour. It
doesn't get dark until about 10. We were on the cruise for about an hour. It
was beautiful to see the city at night with the Eifel Tower lit up. We talked
to some couples sitting next to us. After the tour, which of course we had to
buy a t-shirt, we got back on the metro for our 55 minute ride back. When we
got off the subway,
there were some annoying metro security guards checking
everyone's
tickets. We were told to throw them away, but he kept badgering me to
pay
a fine. Finally, I found an old one in my pocket. We were
starving, it was
midnight, so we stopped at this little restaurant by our
hotel. It was
Brazilian food, and really good. We shared a plate,
enjoyed my daughter's
company, and slid into bed, exhausted around 1:30 a.m.
Tuesday, June 10
Headed over to the Musee De Orsay. I really liked this
museum, and they
were having a special exhibit about Vincent Van Gogh. It
was pouring rain
as we headed to Versailles. The train to Versailles was
adorable! The inside
of the train was Baroque paintings of scenes. We had our
museum pass
which really helped with "ques" for the Louvre,
but it did not help with
Versailles. The line was really really long, and it was
raining. But we had
fun actually. We had these funny little Asians standing
behind us, and
Katie read from Rick
Steves about Versailles while we wound our way to
the front. It was funny because there was this couple
that I had seen
wondering around, and I guess it was intuition, but I
knew they were
was the one who surprised me. She saw them butting, and
we heard
the lady say, "We have been waiting in line for 2
hours," and Katie
replied: "Not in front of us you haven't." I
laughed so hard. We called her
"Sybil" and we saw their little family inside
after about 2 minutes. I have
always enjoyed Versailles. But again, it was a little
different this time -
Digital - in several rooms, you would walk through with
the massive
crowds while there was a movie of all the Kings who have
lived there, or
what it looked like before they added on. Not as cool, I
think, as when you
could just walk in and wander around. I feel like all the
digital stuff makes
it not as personal. We were going to rent bikes and spend
more time in
the gardens and on the grounds, but it was too rainy, and
we were bushed
by standing around so long in the line.
We got back on the train to go back, and we were talking
to these
Canadians, and we missed our stop. Oops. We stopped at
the Tuilerie
gardens, and we ate again at the same little cafe. This
time we ordered
a pizza, a little pasta, and crepe with banana/nutella.
You would think that we would be exhausted, but we headed over
to Sacre de Coeur. This ended up being a really fun
adventure. This
is where all the cute little streets that remind you of San
Fran are.
There were cute little postcard shops, art, gelato,
little cafes, and
many people. The view from there was gorgeous. We had to
climb
many stairs to get up to the street where the basilica
was. And the
basilica was still open to walk around in. A long day,
but FUN!
Wednesday, June 11
Left our metro Ibis hotel for the chunnel back to London,
and I did
our 2nd oops. We missed our train because I had looked at
the time
wrong. Instead of having to pay a fee, there was a strike
or something
going on, and they said that "this is your lucky day
because we are
not charging you for changing your ticket." A great
day to read our
books. I read four books on this trip: Geeks, All Quiet On The Western
except for Flowers
was for school. I am trying to pick another book
for my AP class. Anyway, between all the trains, plains,
and hotels,
Katie and I were able to read.
When we arrived in London at San Pancras station, our
next destination
was Stratford-upon-Avon. We were staying at Moss Cottage,
an adorable
B&B that I found online. Bill gave us great
directions how to arrive by
train, and he picked us up from the train station. Upon
arrival, we were
given tea and blueberry lemon cake. Our room, with two
twin beds had
a tea set, cookies, and water for us. Moss Cottage was
over the top with
The bookstore was wonderful, and we bought tickets to Henry IV. Then,
Bill had mentioned that there was a great pub to eat at
called "The Dirty
Duck." It was so serene near the river, and the
narrow little streets. We
passed a cemetery which I always find so cool. You can't
even read the names
on the headstones, so many years have passed. So, we ate
at this pub where
we got some real fish and chips, and Katie ordered
something with chicken.
We also got a piece of chocolate cake. Yum.
Thursday, June 12
Warwick Castle. Okay, so for as long as I can remember,
specifically when I was
19 and on study abroad, we stayed in Stratford for a
couple of days, and when we
left, we did not get to see Warwick Castle. And I
remember, our teacher saying,
"Look there is Warwick Castle, sorry we didn't get
to see it." In the movie, Camelot,
at the very end, King Arthur sees a little boy, and asks
him his name, and he says
"John of Warwick." And he tells him to run back
to Camelot....long story, but I
have always wanted to go to this castle. I had heard that
it was quite commercialized
drive from Stratford. Warwick wasn't too crowded, and was
very enjoyable. It is kind of
set up for kids, and there were a lot of field trips
going on, but we still had a great
time. Medieval castles are very interesting to me. I love
the grates, motes, big doors,
towers, everything.
After we were through, Bill had given us maps to the
train station or to the bus.
We headed to the train, and without even looking, we
bought two tickets from the
kiosk. We went out to the platform...um, train does not
go to Stratford for 2 1/2 hours!
It was already about 2:00. We asked the Warwick taxi
there, and they said they were
too busy. We walked to the bus, and a kid at the bus said
it should be coming by soon.
We waited for at least another 1/2 hour. Then, one of the
Warwick taxi's came by and
said, "Are you the Americans who need a ride to
Stratford?" So, we hopped in.
Therefore, we did not really get to see Stratford that
afternoon. We did go to a couple
back to Moss Cottage and decided to cancel our Oxford
hotel for the next day, and
spend another day in Stratford. Bill called and got us
another reservation at another
B&B. We went to the play that night. It was great! We
had great seats. We also walked
to the theatre with 3 Americans who were staying at Moss
Cottage. They were very
nice.
On a side note, we washed our clothes in the tub the
night before, and hung everything
up in the bathroom. Usually, in most B&Bs, the owner
does not freshen up your room,
but Bill is over the top! He came in, hung our laundry,
outside - and pressed and folded
them! I didn't dare explain our undergarments.
Friday, June 13
Slept in, and had an awesome breakfast. Eggs with smoked
salmon. Toast and jam. We
really, really nice. We headed off to town. We already
had passes to all the houses, and so
we walked through the rest of them. The gardens were so
pretty. It was hot. We went
back to where they act out Shakespeare on the spot. It is
called "Shakespeare Out
Loud." We walked to all the shopping and stopped for
a pasty. Such a coincidence, we ran
into some friends of Katie's. We walked with her to
"The Dollar Store" hence "All A
Pound." Then, we actually went back to our B&B
and took a nap and read. We asked where
a good pub was for dinner, and ate there, and went to bed
early that night. Small problem,
the noise out on the street kept Katie awake, and she
said that I was snoring. Bummer.
Ate a nice B&B breakfast, then we headed to the train
station. The train back
to London is about an hour. Katie had scouted out that we
could put our
luggage at the train station for 9 pounds each. Instead
of St. Pancras station,
we went to Victoria Station. Free of luggage, we headed
to the Natural History
Museum where there are all sorts of dinosaurs, spiders,
animals. It was fun.
Then, we went to the Victoria & Albert museum. I
loved this museum! This
museum is the world's largest museum of decorative arts
and design. I loved
the medieval objects and art. There were large doors
taken from 14th century
Dress" exhibit. 1775-2014 - We saw Marilyn Manson's
dress, Gwen Stefani and
Gavin Rossdale, but also Victorian dresses and the men's
suit with hats, gloves,
trains. We headed back to the train station, and bought
some dinner. Our
last hotel was Ibis which was supposed to be near the
airport. In the end, we
took the train to the airport, and caught a cab which
took us to the Ibis. This
was pretty good because we really had not taken too many
cabs.
Sunday, June 15 and Father's Day!
Got up early, cab took us to the airport. The check in
did not go as smooth
because I forgot that I could not check on the jams that
I had bought from
then they scanned the jam. Oh brother...we went to see
which gate...our
flight had been delayed 3 hours! We sat in the airport.
Katie read while I shopped all around.
I did not want to sit because I knew what was ahead. I pulled her into
I did not want to sit because I knew what was ahead. I pulled her into
this adorable little shop called Cath Kidston. It is like
modern vintage London
stuff. I bought a few things in there that I really liked
on the last day of my trip.
We ate a late breakfast at this Italian restaurant.
Heathrow just remodeled
this part of the airport. I think one of the shop owners
told me that it had only
been two weeks. The breakfast that I had was one of the
best! Italian hot
chocolate, and croissants. We were finally able to board
our plane. I watched
Romeo and Juliet,
and 3 Days to Kill. What is funny is
that the same actress is in
both: Hailee Steinfeld, and 3 Days to Kill was all shot in Paris. One of the major
scenes was at Sacre Couer. I finished an entire book that
day. We made it to
Vegas around 8:20 p.m., and we were able to catch a 9:00
p.m. shuttle.
Although most of this is a travel journal, there were so
many times that
I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that I was traveling
with my
daughter. I was also overwhelmed with the beauty of not
only cathedrals,
castles, and museums, but the beautiful gardens, parks,
rivers, the sunset,
the rain.
Katie made me laugh a lot, and I loved talking to her
about teaching, books,
everything. We do have a great deal in common. I was
grateful for her brain
when we were navigating, and I was grateful that she
insisted on paying
for things on this trip as well. Of course, there are
things that we didn't get
to do, but for the most part, we did pretty well.
I felt more at home in England, and we were not as
rushed. Paris had a few
scam artists that bugged us, seemed more dirty, and it
was hot. But, I
really did enjoy being there, and the French were very
nice. We spoke to
thanked them in French. The immigrants are the ones doing
most of the
scamming. Nigerians trying to sell us umbrellas, or
little Eiffel towers.
Ladies dressed as gypsies, and no shoes, trying to get
you to give them
money. I think that I am drawn to England because of my
upbringing.
My mother loved to have tea, and sing "God Save the
Queen." Her
Canadian background rubbed off, and she had many English
trinkets
and such around our house. I love the medieval period,
but also the
Victorian era. I enjoy wandering around museums, book
shops, and
cobblestone streets. The food was more enjoyable in
England this
time. Katie and I had fun figuring out what to eat. The
food in Paris
was really good. Mainly, because in both places, we ate
foods from
other places.
Top 3 Events London: Victoria & Albert Museum,
Stratford - Henry IV,
Tower of London.
Top 4 Events in Paris: Night Bike Tour, eating at 1:00
a.m. street cafe,
Sacre Couer/Montmarte, man on bike taking us down Champs
Elysees.
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