Day 8-12... We seem to have fallen behind!

Paris

Paris was a little overwhelming and we weren’t sure how to go about seeing all of the famous monuments you have to see while in Paris. Andrew, always the brochure grabber, found a flyer for a free walking tour of Paris so we decided to give it a shot. Our guide (Arnout from Los Angeles, married to Jennifer from Paris) was the greatest guide we could have hoped for. He told us all of the history we wanted to know and threw in a lot of fun facts we never would have guessed. On our tour we made our first (hopefully of many) new friends! We met Ashley and Gillian from Canada, eh. Towards the end of the tour the four of us decided to cut out early and find a good spot to watch the end of the Tour de France. Andrew and Ashley found us a great spot overlooking the course, and saw the riders pass 8 times… Andrew was ecstatic! That night we went over to the Canadians’ hostel and met a bunch of people from all over the world. Allyson drank and played cards with some guys from Tasmania while Andrew drank wine and learned bar tricks with two young, married couples from Columbus, Ohio. One of our best nights so far!

On our last day in Paris we couldn’t resist walking to the base of the Eiffel Tower and taking the typical tourist pictures. We went to L’Orangerie to see Monet’s famous water lilies.. they were even bigger than we had imagined. No Paris trip would be complete without a visit to the Louvre, so we finished our day wandering the endless halls of the spectacular museum.

Brussels

We took the high-speed train from Paris to Brussels (1 hour and 20 minutes!) and got picked up at the Waterloo train station by Xavier, Alicia, and the cripple. Peter was very happy to see us! On our way back to the De Clercq’s house we picked up sushi and had a very nice lunch in their backyard. That afternoon Alicia took us to the Atomium (a giant atom-like monument designed for the 1958 World Fair) and“Mini Europe” (a bunch of famous European monuments scaled down to 1:25). On our way home Alicia took us into Brussels to get an authentic Belgian waffle—delicious! Xavier and Marilyn prepared a delicious dinner barbequed kebabs and mashed potatoes. Yum! The next morning we went to the Waterloo battle monument (a huge hill with a lion statue on top). Even Peter was able to climb the steps to enjoy the view of the Belgian countryside. That afternoon Xavier took us for a bike ride through the forest near their house. Everyone enjoyed it very much, except for Allyson who alternated between being incredibly tired and fearing for her life… she wasn’t left with much time to enjoy the scenery. That evening we went to Brussels for dinner with Xavier, Alicia, and Peter. We enjoyed some famous Belgian mussels and frites. Allyson stalked up on some Belgian chocolate and we all saw the Mannequin Pis… he is much smaller than expected!

Today Xavier and his family (plus Peter) left for Chamonix, where we will meet up with them in a few days. We spent the day with Xavier’s parents, Maggie and Robert… great family friends of the Tights. Robert took us to Brugge where we took a boat tour through the canals. Maggie prepared a delicious dinner for us, and tomorrow we leave for Laussane!

Travel Blunder: One of Allyson’s sorority sisters (Kylie!!) was in Paris at the same time as us and we didn’t realize it until we saw her pictures on Facebook two days after we’d left! Bummer.

Culture Shock: In Belgium people drive very fast, and all but the largest roads don’t have enough space for two cars- you have to hope that oncoming traffic will pull off to let you through! Robert’s car has a button to fold in the side view mirrors to help squeeze through tight spots.

Gourmet Moment: Allyson decided one night in Paris that a banana and nutella crepe would be a suitable dinner. She did not regret it, and Andrew was jealous.

Score of the Day: Free Louvre tickets! Our tour guide told us to always ask if there are any discounts available at museums you visit. At the Louvre Andrew asked about a discount and told the lady that we were American students. She responded, “No, you are from London… here you go!” and handed us two free tickets. Awesome!

Fun Fact #1: French fries come from Belgium, not France.

Fun Fact #2: In many traditional European statues of a man on horseback you can tell how the man died by the stance of the horse. All four feet on the ground: the man died of natural causes. One front and one back leg up: unnatural causes, like murder. Horse rearing up on hind legs: the man died in battle.

Fun Fact #3: The roof of the Louvre is lined with many statues, one of which is of Voltaire. About 20 years ago his nose was about to fall of, so while the French were deciding what to do about it they threw a net over him. After ten years of deciding whether to let the nose fall or to reattach it, they decided to reattach it. Now, ten years later, the net remains over Voltaire because the French are still trying to decide who is qualified to work on the precious statue.

Day 7: Madrid to Paris

Let us just open by pointing out that yesterday morning we were in London. We have since come and gone from Madrid, and are now in Paris! Whew!

We stopped in Madrid for a night just so that Allyson could drop off some luggage that she needs for Granada later. We stayed in a hostel, sharing a room with 7 other travelers- our first un-pampered living situation. We were there for less than 24 hours so we didn’t get a chance to make new friends. But we DID get to catch up with one of Andrew’s best friends from Argentina, Greg, and his amazing girlfriend, Sophie. Had a great night out- it was nice to have someone to show us around.

When we got off the plane in Paris this morning we stopped at an airport Info desk to ask directions to our hotel. The guy we talked to gave us confusing directions and informed us that we were staying in “a bad part of town”. Neither of us liked the sound of that, but there was no turning back. We prepared for the worst and got on the train into the city along with several interesting characters. We psyched ourselves out on the train ride and were not reassured when we arrived at the Gare de Nord train station. There were guards walking around with huge guns, few kind faces, and even fewer signs and directions to help us find our way. We left through the first exit we found and were in a pretty dingy part of town. As Allyson (not so silently) cursed our travel agent, Andrew scoured the map and just tried to keep us moving. As we neared the hotel, things got a little nicer but we still had our doubts. We found the hotel, got up to our room, and collapsed on the bed and wanted to cry. People love this city, we just couldn’t figure out why!



After resting a few minutes we realized that our one chore for the day was to buy train tickets to get to Brussels and then Laussane. Guess where you buy train tickets… Yup, we had to go back to our worst nightmare. We asked the concierge at the hotel how to get to the train station and she pointed us in the opposite direction from where we had come, then laughed when Andrew asked if it was a safe walk. She said, “Of course! You can walk anywhere around here!” We walked the right way to the train station and were surprised to find a beautiful, busy, happy station. Bought tickets with no trouble and decided to look around for some dinner on our way back to the hotel. We stumbled upon a bustling touristy pedestrian street with vendors and street performers all over. At the end of the street was a hill leading up to the Basilique du Sacer-Coeur, a beautiful white-marble church overlooking the entire city. We had a delicious ham and cheese crepe for dinner and happily made our way home. The day turned out to be quite a success!



Travel Blunder: Paris panic. See above.



Culture Shock: On budget airlines, a plane ticket is not the same thing as a baggage ticket. They are purchased separately.. not a very practical flying solution.



Gourmet Moment: Greg introduced us to our new favorite drink- beer mixed with lemonade! It’s called “claro” in Spanish and “panache” in French… we’ll let you know when we learn the name in Swiss-German, and Italian! In honor of Andrew’s best Argentina memories, we went to dinner in Madrid at a restaurant favorite called Sushi Club. Andrew and Greg were used to the all-you-can-eat version in Buenos Aires but reluctantly settled to order a bit less this time. It cost a little more than usual but was so worth it. Thank you Uncle Roo, Aunt Nance, Meg, and Ellie- your grad present to Andrew made it a very special night

Day 6: Goodbye London!

(we haven't had internet connection for a few days so this post is a little delayed...)

Thursday morning we got a bus back to London and went to find the Heale’s London house. Their home was amazing, yet again. From there we took the tube to check out the British Museum- so much stuff (that England has “acquired” throughout its history of conquest)! For dinner we met up with one of Andrew’s friends he met in Argentina- a nice British guy named Aaron. After a great noodle dinner he took us to a lively Cuban nightclub in some converted horse stables. When we got back to the Heale’s house we met the oldest daughter, Agi, and her boyfriend and chatted with them for a bit before bed.

Woke up EARLY this morning to make it to Heathrow (with plenty of time to spare). No one loves an early morning airport run more than Allyson!

Travel Blunder: (a day late)- When getting on the bus in Bath to take us back to London, we went to check in at the bus terminal. The attendant asked where we were getting off. We replied, “Earl’s Court”. The attendant looked at us, looked at the packs on our backs, and simply said “No, you’re not”. Apparently because Earl’s Court isn’t a station stop we weren’t allowed to bring any luggage with us! Not really an option for us. We explained that we really needed to get back to London and he said that we could plead our case with the bus driver. After a few minutes, the attendant came and found us and sheepishly explained that he was wrong, the rules had changed, and that we were perfectly allowed to travel with our bags.

Culture Shock: British homes (from what we’ve seen) don’t have toilet paper holders mounted on walls. It is typically just sitting somewhere on a counter, never in the same place twice.

Day 4: Bath

Slept in this morning and took a leisurely stroll down into the town of Bath. We spent the morning in the Roman Baths, listening to audio commentary by Bill Bryson! Bath proved once again to be a quaint little town when we returned to a shop to find Allyson’s water bottle sitting right on the counter where we lost it yesterday. On the way back to the crescent we stopped at the Fashion Museum to check it out. Saw an exhibit on the dresses of Princess Diana and Allyson got to try on a corset! Andrew refused… he’s no fun.


Travel Blunder: Nothing stupid today! Maybe we’re starting to get the hang of this…

Culture Shock: We went to the post office to mail a letter to our travel agent and were confused at the end of the transaction when the teller asked if we wanted our advice. We realized later at an ATM when our receipt came out of the “Advice Slip” slot that the post office lady was, in fact, just doing her job and not trying to be a life coach.

Day 3: London to Bath

Early wake-up and key return this morning, 6:30am to be precise. Allyson (as usual) wanted to arrive extra early to our 8:15 bus to Bath. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and played the “find the silliest British street name on the map” game. Cockfoster was the clear winner. After some confusion and slight panic (mostly Allyson), we got on our bus and enjoyed the 3 hour trip to the charming city of Bath.

We made our way up to the Landsdown Cresent to stay with Tight family friends, the Heales. We were lucky enough to meet Simon (Mr. Heale) for an hour before he left on vacation to France. Now we have the magnificent 5-story home in the center of the crescent all to ourselves!

Note about the house: When the crescent was built, the United States was still a British colony. Talk about history!

We spent the afternoon wandering around Bath and checked out the Jane Austen Centre. Guess who was tempted by all of the “I Heart Mr. Darcy” souvenirs? Hint: it wasn’t Andrew…

Travel Blunder: When our bus to Bath hadn’t shown up by 8:15, Allyson started to get concerned. When another bus from the same company drove by and didn’t stop for us, Andrew was instructed (more like shrieked at) to run after it, backpack and all. This episode was more or less repeated each time a National Express bus drove by. Six busses later and we were on our way to Bath!

Culture Shock: While waiting for our bus to Bath, we saw a high-security English Primary School with separate doors for boys and girls. Maybe England hasn’t realized that cooties really aren’t that contagious.

Gourmet Moment: “Cream Tea” is a full meal, not just tea with cream in it. At the Jane Austen Museum we got a coupon for two cream teas for the price of one in their tearoom. Thinking this would be a quick, cheap, light afternoon refreshment we ordered two cream teas. A pot of tea and a bit of milk were brought out, but then the waiter said, “The cream teas will be right out”. Allyson says to Andrew, wide eyed, “Oh no, what have we gotten ourselves into?!”. The tea was followed by two large scones, a large tub of butter and a bowl of jelly, EACH! Our cheap snack ended up costing us £8. Woops.

Day 2: More London

Today we explored London on foot, 8 miles of on foot to be exact! We went to the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, then walked down the Thames to see the London Bridge… (funny story- we walked right past it without even realizing. Note: The London Bridge really isn’t that special). Took the tube to Westminster and saw Big Ben, the Parliament buildings, Westminster Abby, The Churchill War Rooms Museum (it was awesome- thanks Mama Tight!), Buckingham Palace, and St. James Park. After 7 hours of exploring we decided we still hadn’t had enough of London so we walked back to our flat in Kensington… not as close as it looked on the map. Made it home safely after 9 hours out on the town!

You math geeks out there may have noticed that it took us 2 hours to walk home at the end of the day. That’s what happens when you give Andrew the map. He doesn’t get us lost, he just happens to avoid the most direct routes.

Travel Blunder: Abigdon Villa and Abigdon Road are not the same thing. Realizing that before thinking you know your way home might be a good idea.

Culture Shock: “Bacon” in England means “large, limp, uncooked slab of pork fat”. Yum?!

Day 1: London

SFO to London- Check! Easiest flight of our lives. Through security in 20 minutes, roomy seats on the plane, not a child in sight. We were wandering around Heathrow before we knew it searching for somewhere to store Allyson’s HUGE extra bag. Finally reached the Drake family’s flat (after a ride on the underground and after searching high and low for British street signs). The flat is amazing! Great location, everything we need- we’re starting our trip the spoiled way. We spent the rest of the day exploring the Kensington neighborhood on foot and got to check out the Natural History Museum and Hyde Park. Ended the evening with some authentic fish ‘n chips in a classic British pub (the Goat’s Head!).

Travel Blunder: Find yourself a map of your destination city BEFORE you arrive. Expecting one to materialize in your hands when needed is a bit optimistic.

Random Sighting: Fellow Davisonian wandering the streets of London… small world!

Culture Shock: Look RIGHT.

It's Almost Time!

We leave for London one week from Saturday. So much to do!