our first destination was paris! our taxi picked us up at 5am saturday morning to take us to the airport. i traveled with mary cate, brittany sims, megan gaudet, elizabeth verdone, mary grace hatcher, and laurie kruger and we were metting matt [brittany's boryfriend] and tommy [mary cate's brother] in paris, so there was a total of 9 of us. european airlines charge you way more to check bags, so we had made an executive decision to not check any luggage, so we had to pack in a very restricted sized carry on for 7 days, and i some how ended up OVER packing! i felt very accomplished.
 |
walking on the plane!
for flights in europe they do not give assigned seating so everyone rushes onto to sit where they want! |
we arrived in paris around 11 and checked into our hostel, St. Christopher's Inn, then went straight to the center of the city!
 |
| my first view :) |
 |
| once we were under the eiffel tower there was so much going on!! |
 |
paris is such a fun city!
there is so much going on everywhere!
these guys would play different songs and act PERFECTLY to them... i have a video i can show you :) |
 |
| Arc de Triumph |
after walking around Paris for a few hours it was dinner time and we wanted some kind of a french dinner. we decided we wanted some french onion soup, so after a while of walking around we found a nice place called
deVez where me and mary cate ordered french union soup [the best i have ever had] and a chicken club sandwich and split them. matt ordered duck, which is a common food in france, and i tried a bite and surprisingly liked it.
 |
| we ate at devez if you ever go to paris! |
after dinner we went and had a crepe [banana and nuetella] and yall... it was heavenly. you MUST MUST MUST get one if you ever go to Paris, or anywhere for that matter!
 |
| we started the 2nd day at the Louvre! |
 |
| i saw the Mona Lisa and got my picture! |
 |
this is where i got separated from the group because i stopped to take a picture for someone...
and let me tell you, the Louvre is not a place you want to get lost in, especially without phones, it's HUGE! |
 |
i went and saw Napoleon's Apartments because it looked the most interesting to me!
the chandeliers were beautiful! |
 |
| this was the dining area |
 |
| Napoleon's bed |
 |
all the girls!
brittany, mary grace, me laurie, megan, elizabeth, and mary cate |
 |
we strolled along the river toward Notre Dame...
it had so many old books, posters, magazines! |
 |
| Notre Dame |
 |
i am not a fan usually of museums, but i could of stayed in the d'Orsay for hours!
it has paintings by artists like Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gough, ect. |
 |
theses are heavenly treats called Macarons
my favorite was vanilla [like a bite of cupcake] and chocolate [a bite of brownie]! |
 |
| we saw the eiffel tower sparkle at night... one of my favorite things!! |
 |
| Montemarte |
 |
we climbed to the 2nd floor of the eiffel tower then road the elevator to the top!!
it was quiet the climb! |
 |
| me and mary grace on the eiffel tower! |
 |
| from the top! |
 |
| paris is such a big city! |
 |
| we spotted our friends spelling out hi from the ground :) |
 |
| elizabeth, me, mary cate, and mary grace at the top! |
 |
| it was such a pretty day! |
 |
| another nutella and banana crepe :) |
 |
| the whole group! |
 |
| yayyy! love these two girls! |
the metro system HATED me in paris. we each purchased an a bundle of 10 tickets and they would for some reason never let me through the gate when i scanned it and then the people that were there to "help" would yell at me in french every time and i had no idea what the heck they were saying! i had to literally prepare myself every time we got on the metro, which was multiple times a day. so if you ever go to paris, stay in walking distance of the main attractions :)
there is so much to see and do and paris! it is on my list to visit again one day, 3 days just wasn't enough.
our next stop was
london! i love london! this was my 3rd time to visit london and i was so excited. i love the atmosphere and the people [we could actually understand them!] they are just so nice and their accents are great!!
 |
| Buckingham Palace |
 |
we got to see changing of the guards!
if you ever go make sure you get close to the gate of the palace! |
 |
| we went to harrod's after the changing of the guards and walked around... it was probably one of my favorite things we did! |
 |
| the architecture was amazing!! |
 |
we walked around all the floors and just had so much!!
especially the toy floor :) |
 |
| me and mary cate treated ourselves to a very delicious cupcake!! |
 |
Kensington Palace
we thought we were going to get to see Princess Diana's dresses but they aren't there anymore! boo! |
 |
we like to think this is the queen :)
we were walking out of Kensington Palace and a helicopter just flew down and landed in a field and this little old lady who looks very much like the queen got out! |
once we were done at Kensington Palace, we got back on the Big Bus Tour and got off at Oxford Street. there is a ton of shopping [nothing i could afford] but it was fun to window shop! we really wanted to see a play and there are discount ticket offices everywhere so we stopped in one just to see the price and they told us they had 20 pound WICKED tickets for the next night. so of course we took them! we were very happy girls! the two boys tagged along but said it wasn't their favorite haha but the play was so good! just as good as broadway in NYC!
 |
| he was very confused why we screamed at the top of our lungs!! |
 |
| we love wicked!! |
our last day in London we just kind of saw the main sights...
 |
| me and britt had fish n chips just for the cultural experience |
 |
| Big Ben and Parliament (which was in session!) |
 |
| the London eye! |
 |
| the famous red telephone booths :) |
five of us came back to
rome on thrusday and had a nice dinner by the trevi and stayed in rome for the night. we had such a fun week but we were all ready to get back to our nooks... :)
we all knew it was going to be a week to remember, but little did we know all the stories, adventures, life learned lessons, and just fun times we were going to embark on. there are a few more stories [hostels and traveling] they i will have to tell you about when i get back... just too much to type!
i hope everything is going good back in the states! i only have 5 more weeks... its so hard to believe i have been here for 2 months! time is flying!!
CIAO!
No comments:
Post a Comment