Last full day in London..

London has been very fun. I wish I had been able to blog more, but having no internet at the hostel made it tricky. But now Maddie, Kaitlyn, Matt and I are sitting in Starbucks eating breakfast and reading/checking facebook/blogging.
On Wednesday Matt, Maddie and I walked around Hyde Park and looked for the Peter Pan statue. We eventually found it! After taking pictures of it we walked back to our hostel and did some window shopping on the way. After that we got some food from Tesco and Maddie and I got ready to see Wicked!! We both enjoyed it a lot. It wasn't my favorite cast but they were all very talented and did a great job. My favorite part would have to be the guy who played Boq because he was scottish. After the show was over our fourth travel buddy Kaitlyn had arrived in London. We met up with her and Matt underneath Big Ben and did some sightseeing around that part of London. We then took the tube back to our hostel and stayed there the rest of the evening.
Yesterday we went to the science museum and to Harrods. After that the other three watched a movie and I went to Starbucks to do some reading and have some internet time. Shortly after that Maddie and I went to a play called Deathtrap which we both really enjoyed. I made Maddie stage door with me because I really wanted to meet the cast.
Today we are going to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and walking around London.
Tomorrow at noon we are heading back on the coach to school. Finally!!! We found another person from school at the museum yesterday and we all discussed how ready we are to be back at school.
I will be blogging from school shortly!

LONDON BABY!

Post from yesterday:
I am currently blogging from a train somewhere by the coast of England. We left Paris early this morning and took the metro to the train station. Then we took a nice ferry to England, and now we’re headed to London. The ferry was as nice as cruise ships I have seen pictures of. There was a nice coffee shop, bar, shops and other lounges, and a nice deck which we spent some time on.
I spent most of the time in the coffee shop since we don’t get to do that at school. I had a great time in Paris, but I am excited to be back in London. We don’t have any big plans except for Maddie and I seeing Wicked and Deathtrap. We are here until Saturday when we get picked up by the coach to go back to school.
Today:
We made it to our hostel last night and we were all exhausted from traveling all day. We ate a dinner at an italian restaurant and then we went to bed pretty shortly after that.
I woke up early this morning, but Maddie and Matt slept in later. I finished a 13 Little Blue Envelopes, which is a great book I've been reading while traveling across Europe. It is the perfect traveling book.
We eventually made it out of our hostel for a brunch at Starbucks. Then we bought some Oyster cards for using the tube, and we went to Parliament and Big Ben and the normal tourist spots in that area. We then met another person from school at Westminster Cathedral, and we then walked to Buckingham Palace and then walked through Hyde Park back to our hostel and to get some food. Now we are sitting in Starbucks using the internet since our hostel doesn't have any. So I will not be blogging as much this week, but I go back to school on Saturday (we are all excitedly counting down) and then I will definitely get on and blog if I'm not able to get on this week.
Tomorrow Maddie and I are seeing Wicked in the afternoon and then we are meeting another person from school.

Cheers!

Disneyland Paris!!!!

Today Maddie and I went to Disneyland Paris, and we had a lot of fun! We early this morning, grabbed pain au chocolat and took the metro and a train to the park. We only had to wait a bit before the gates were open and we got into the park. The first thing we did was go on Space Mountain, and then we immediately got fast pass tickets to go back on later. Then we went on basically every ride at Disney except for Thunder Mountain because the line was always just too long.
We ate. a lot. Throughout the day we had a churro, chicken nuggets, crepes, an actual dinner of cheeseburgers and fries, and a cotton candy which was basically as big as me...so now we have both completely crashed back at our apartment while we are trying to get packed and ready to go to London tomorrow.
Paris has been great, and I'm sad we're leaving...but we have some great plans in London!
I'm having problems trying to get Disney pictures on the blog today, so I will have to try tomorrow or in the next couple days.
We'll be staying in a hostel in London, so we won't have as much internet time, but I'm still hoping I will have time to blog!

Yet another post about Paris

First of all, here is where we were standing for the new year last night:

We didn't sleep in very much this morning. I woke up around 9 and checked facebook--only to see I had a message from Josh and Gabe, whom were with us last night. They weren't able to get back to their hostel last night, so they had been walking around Paris all night until I got on facebook and directed them to our apartment, where they were able to crash for awhile. This morning we walked to Sacre-Coeur which is a cathedral at one of the highest points in Paris. It was foggy today, so that's why we didn't climb the Eiffel Tower, but we could still see a bit from the top of the hill! It's midnight here, and everyone wants to sleep so I won't be able to post a picture of that tonight either, but the rest of the day was spent eating food and going on a boat cruise down the Seine. It was pretty fun!

Tomorrow Maddie and I are going to Disneyland Paris, which will definitely be a ton of fun!!

Bonne Année!

This will be a short blog with no pictures of tonight because it is nearly 2am and we are waking up early to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Today we slept in a little bit, got lunch from our favorite place on the street and then we walked to Musee D'Orsay. The line to get inside was relatively short, and I think it was worth the money and the short wait. I am not a fan of museums, but it was very awesome seeing Van Gogh and Monet after hearing about them for years (and Doctor Who....)
After we were done in the museum, we stopped and ate crepes. I will post some pictures tomorrow...I was more interested in the man sitting at the table near us who looked freakishly like Orlando Bloom. We then relaxed in our apartment until we walked to the Louvre to finally meet up with some friends from school!! There were a total of nine people plus someone brought a friend who was traveling with them. We weren't able to meet up with everyone who is here, but those of us who got together had a really great night. We went to a restaurant we found while we were walking, and the manager sat us outside. When we first sat down a homeless man asked us for our coffee. We told him we didn't order any and he walked away. After we had gotten our food (I got a panini)..Gigi had gotten a pizza, and while we were sitting and eating a girl walked up to our table, looked at all of our food, stole a slice of Gigi's pizza and then swiftly ran away. None of us really knew what to do...so we kind of just laughed it off. We then got our bill and were trying to put in all of our share, when the waiter came, just took Gigi's fifty and a couple other bills and said goodnight. So that was also a great moment.
When we had finished eating we walked down Champs-Elysee and then spent the rest of our night in a park on a couple benches next to the Eiffel Tower. It was a perfect and more quiet spot than the rest of Paris. We had fun bonding over the drunk Parisians, the freezing weather, and some cheap champagne.
I will post more tomorrow, but it is now time for bed!

Bonne Année!

J'adore Paris

Today was my favorite day in Paris so far. We woke up rather early and went to the same bakery for breakfast. This morning the three of us got Pain au Chocolat. Matt and I then walked around trying to find Maddie who went to top up her phone. After some confusion and finally finding each other, we made our way to Notre Dame! We had a beautiful walk from our apartment and down the Seine.

When we got to Notre Dame there was a very, very long line. We decided that we are going to try to go inside another day, but we still walked around outside and took pictures. We also stayed to listen to the bells ring, which was a very cool experience. 

We ate lunch at a little cafe near Notre Dame. I had a sandwich which was basically toast with ham and cheese melted on top. We didn't have any problems with muggers today, but I was charged 5 euros for my cup of diet coke. That was a surprise, but now I have learned just to order water whenever I go inside a restaurant here. 

After looking around in some shops and buying something for my mom and dad, we decided to go and do some shopping in some stores we've been walking past throughout our trip here. Most of the stores here are way too expensive--but it was fun trying on clothes and looking at jewelry and purses. After standing in a line with Maddie for what seemed like half an hour, Matt told us he was feeling sick, so we walked back to our apartment as quickly as we could. He decided to stay behind while Maddie and I did some more shopping. After we were done shopping we went to Starbucks and I tried a drink I had not tried before! It was a tea frappucino, which according to the menu was 'an iced drink and hit flavors raspberry, cassis, white grape and cassis.' 

We sat in Starbucks for awhile and talked while Maddie drew. 

After awhile we decided to go exploring some some streets we had not yet traveled down. We found a lot more clothing stores, but we also came across a photography gallery! There were pictures of city landscapes, people, the ocean, and others. After some more exploring we decided to walk back to the apartment to see how Matt was doing. We ended up buying him a baguette and then leaving him for the evening. Maddie and I had a wonderful night! We began with crepes at the restaurant right next to our apartment. I had a sugar crepe, which I had at Disney World this time last year.....I think I liked the one from Disney better, but I'm not complaining! We then planned on going to the ferris wheel and just walk around. To get to the ferris wheel we had to walk through the Louvre which was absolutely beautiful. It may have been one of the most beautiful things I have seen since I have moved to this side of the world. My camera doesn't like taking pictures when it's dark outside, so I couldn't fully capture the beauty. But here's a snapshot:

As we began to walk towards the pyramids we heard some beautiful music coming from the archway. There was a man playing a cello...and he was very good. He was also in a spot which created the perfect photo opportunity.

By this point I had fallen in love with Paris...and I realized why Paris is known as the city of lights. We took some more pictures, went inside of the big pyramid and then moved on towards the ferris wheel.

We didn't have to wait in any sort of line once we arrived, which was a surprise to both Maddie and myself. Sadly, there was too much fog so the Eiffel Tower wasn't visible tonight. I'm hoping we will be able to see it for New Years tomorrow or over the next couple days we are here. But we saw the Arc De Triomph clearly, which was breathtaking. When we were done on the ferris wheel we watched a dance group from Texas who were perfoming next to the wheel, and then we began our walk back to our flat. 

We stopped in a couple shops and we went to McDonalds after we promised each other we wouldn't go to it at all while we were in Paris (we spent too much time hanging out in McDonalds in Edinburgh). But Maddie and I were both hungry and it sounded really great at that moment. We made it back to our apartment, told Matt all about our adventures and have now been uploading pictures, skyping and watching the Van Gogh Doctor Who episodes...since we may be going to Musee D'Orsay tomorrow.

"Do you KNOW what the Louvre IS?"

Today was our first full day in Paris, and it was full of food, adventure and fun.
We slept in until ten so Maddie could try and fight off her jet lag, but once we were all awake we got ready and walked down our street deciding what we wanted for brunch. We ended up doing some grocery shopping and then we got baguettes and pain au chocolat from a patisserie. Once we had finished eating our delicious pastries, we spent the day walking around sightseeing. We decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower and see what we would run into on the way. Because I didn't pay a lot of attention in French class, I didn't know a lot about the buildings and statues we saw. If a building or statue looked pretty or important, I took a picture..

There are carousels scattered throughout Paris, but the first one we saw was here by the ice rink.

While we were walking we walked into some interesting little shops, and even found Harry Potter in french (surprise..)

After exploring for awhile we ended up at the Louvre. I had a rather embarrassing moment, not knowing what the Louvre looked like. oops.

As we kept walking, there was an incident in which two men kind of...I guess you could say 'legally mugged' us. As was taking the above picture, one of the guys went up to Matt and told him to hold some string for him. Matt said no, but the guy went up to him anyways and grabbed his wrist. He then proceeded to make a bracelet, tie it around his wrist and then told him to give him ten euros. Maddie and I walked over, and another guy did the same thing to us, except the entire time he was saying, "you are sexy. Do you have boyfriend?" and some other things he clearly memorized from a phrase book. Because "we were sexy" he only made us give him eight euro each. So that was a rather exciting experience.
We just kept walking after that, complaining--but the same thing happened later, and Maddie screamed no and we kept walking. We also had some gypsies ask us if we spoke english, but we said no...Maddie and I were rather excited when we found the fountain from The Devil Wears Prada (which we are watching right now).

Before we walked to the Eiffel Tower we decided to walk to the Arc de Triomphe. It was so much bigger than I expected it to be! We walked through the tunnel and went inside it to take some pictures and be tourists.

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower, which was inspiring and magnifique. Maddie and I bought some delicious crepes and ate them in front of the Eiffel Tower. They were pretty messy, but delicious! We both had banana and chocolate crepes, with a lot of whipped creme and nutella...it was kind of messy to eat, but so worth it! We then took lots and lots of pictures of the Eiffel Tower. The line was very long today so we didn't go inside, but we will be going back in the next few days to go up it.

It started to get cold after walking for awhile, so we decided to walk down the river seine to get back to our flat. It was picturesque, and we saw all of the monuments we saw this morning, except it had gotten quite dark outside so everything was lit up and beautiful. For dinner we bought a fresh baguette and got some brie cheese, and I had some leftover pasta from dinner last night. So far one of my favorite things about Paris is the food. After dinner we walked around for awhile and went window shopping until everything began to close. Thankfully, things don't close here as early as Edinburgh. There is also so much more to do at night here. We are hopefully going to be taking a night cruise while we are here...and of course New Years Eve!!
Tomorrow the plan is to go to Notre Dame and maybe take a bus tour...and shopping =]