Sorry Becky and Mike & Erin... this post is a couple of weeks overdue. But with Christmas and ... and ... and ... Oh fine. I really didn't have *that* good of an excuse. I'm just lazy. Are you happy now?
This is how this all the crazy Europe business came about...
A generous friend of mine works for American Airlines. We got to talking, and he was appalled that I had never flown first class. "When would I have ever flown first class, Mauricio? It's so expensive!!!" I said. He then told me that he had several passes left that would expire at the end of 2012 and that Scott and I could have them to fly anywhere, hopefully in first class. ANYWHERE! So Scott and I talked it over and decided that 1) he didn't have enough vacation time left what with Christmas around the corner and 2) we didn't have the budget to afford hotel and food even with a free flight anywhere. What a
Bummer (with a capital "B" if you didn't notice.)
Scott then suggested that we not let these passes go to waste and that I ask my Mom if she would like to go somewhere. So I did ask her, and she was very excited. Unfortunately, she had a 10-day trip planned to help out my Aunt (my Aunt and her husband own a charter bus company, and my mom sometimes helps "chaperone" the trips). We decided to go someplace fairly close (Vegas, Tahoe, and the US Virgin Islands were are top choices) so that she wouldn't be too tired from jet-lag to work her trip.
On a Saturday, mid-day, Mom called me and told me that she wasn't needed on the trip with my Aunt. Soooo that meant we could go ANYWHERE!
With only 2 days notice, we eagerly started planning for our London & Paris trip. Notes: Neither of us had been to Europe before. Neither of us had ever realistically planned to go to Europe. We were starting our research from scratch. Basically we left the country with our hotel rooms booked and that's it.
We flew out Tuesday night at 8pm from DFW on a red-eye flight into London's Heathrow airport.
We arrived in London on Wednesday at 11:30am. We took the tube (London's subway system) from the airport to a station, then walked in the drizzle to our "hotel".
Our "hotel" was more like an Iranian bed & breakfast. Only not as glamerous. The Bridge Hotel is in a fairly old building with lots of winding hallways.
The owner/manager/staff of the hotel were very nice and accommodating. We were constantly offered tea, and they were very helpful in regards to calling cabs and whatnot.
My friend Mauricio had warned us that the hotel rooms in Europe were very small. He wasn't kidding. This was the extent of our room. We also had an itty bitty private bathroom (thank goodness we had a private bathroom. not all the rooms in this hotel did) that was too small to photograph. Notice the cock-eyed paintings. Interesting. Possibly ahead of the home-fashion curve. But I doubt it.
We spent the rest of our Wednesday finding food, changing dollars to pounds, and scoping out the area. We weren't staying in a touristy area, so finding food wasn't too easy. Our hotel was loosely connected with a "diner" that sold odd food. Thankfully they sold something that resembled a cheeseburger, which we managed to snarf down.
Thursday was our sightseeing day in London. Thankfully it didn't rain on us. But it was very overcast. I normally wear sunglasses even on overcast days; I didn't once get them out of my purse while we were here. We took a cab to Trafalgar Square to start the day.
We decided to do one of those hop-on-hop-off bus tours. Kind of pricey, but definitely the way to see a city like London! While we were waiting for the bus to come, we saw a couple of decidedly British things:
The first place we stopped on our bus tour was the South Bank. From here, you could see Parliament, Big Ben (two things: it wasn't as big as I thought it would be, and Big Ben is actually the name of the largest bell inside the tower, not the name of the tower itself), and the London Eye across from the River Thames. Amazing.
Our next stop was Buckingham Palace. The gates were massive and impressive.
But we didn't catch sight of the queen. She must have been off having tea somewhere.
Our next stop was Hyde Park, one of London's oldest parks.
Our next stop was the Tower of London. It was London's only castle to never be breached. The building in the middle of the compound (the White Tower) was built in the early 1000s. And is still standing. WOW! The crown jewels are also housed here, but no photography was allowed. :( Inside the White Tower was a museum featuring armor and weapons used throughout British history. Also included were gifts of state given to England (hence the Indian feather headdress my Mom "models" below). British soldiers marched around the compound and guarded the crown jewels; at one point, Mom almost got run over by some marching soldiers. Wish I could have captured that on film!
It was night time (daylight ended around 4:30pm) when we emerged from the Tower, and London Bridge was next to the Tower of London. Gorgeous.
Friday we got up and took a cab to St. Pancras station (the architecture was amazing!):
to catch the train that would take us under the English Channel and into France.
When we arrived in Paris, it was raining. We took a cab from Garde de Nord station to our hotel (hotel without apostrophes; this was an actual hotel) in South Paris: Hotel du Home Moderne.
Guillame was the front desk attendant at Hotel du Home Moderne and he was fabulous. So helpful. And what an accent!
The hotel room here was small as well, but much nicer. It looked even nicer before we slept in the bed.
Here is the view from our hotel room. So Paris!
We spent the rest of our Friday unpacking and walking around the hotel
area. Again, we weren't in a touristy area. We were among the
Parisians. When walking around, there were tons of Patisseries (pastry shops). Yummo! We grabbed some food from one... a sort of pizza. I have no idea what was on it, but it was super yummy.
The architecture here was just amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the buildings. These two pictures were taken around the corner from our hotel.
We didn't go in, but there was a large flower shop with TONS of flowers. Sigh. I love Paris.
Saturday was our day to sight see in Paris. Thankfully it didn't rain on us here either, but it was very cold and overcast. We decided not to do a hop-on-hop-off bus tour in Paris; I'm not sure why. Looking back on it, I think we kind of wish we did. Instead, we used the Metro, Paris' subway system.
Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower. It was just as big and grand as I thought it would be. There was a HUGE line to go up to the top, so we decided against going up.
Our next stop was the Sacre-Couer Cathedral. Sacred Heart Cathedral for all of you English speakers out there. When we came out of the Metro station, we were in the cutest little town square. There was a gorgeous old church there (not the Sacre-Couer) along with some craft booths.
I walked around the square for a little while Mom hung out on a parch bench, people watching.
The Sacre-Couer is located on one of the highest parts of Paris; consequently we had a LOT of stairs to climb and lots of narrow streets to walk down.
The following pictures are not the same set of stairs. There were 4 or 5 sets of these stairs that we had to climb to get up to the top. Not for the faint of heart.
At the top of the stairs, and before we got to the cathedral, was the Montmarte area. It's an artist area; nearly one hundred artists are set up in the square, painting in person and selling finished paintings. There were some really beautiful paintings to be seen.
And finally, the Sacre-Couer.
A view from the steps of the cathedral, overseeing Paris.
On our way back to the Metro station, we stopped at a cafe in Montmarte for hot chocolate and a coke.
Our third stop of the day was the cathedral Notre Dame. Huge doesn't begin to describe the size of this place. Nor does the word ornate. Or beautiful.
Notre Dame is situated next to the Seine.
A close up of the area above the massive doors. There are hundreds of faces carved into the arches above the doors.
There were a ton of people inside. A mass was being conducted at the same time we were visiting.
There is some beautiful artwork inside.
The baptistry. Can you imagine getting baptised in a church like this?
Back on the Metro to our 4th and final destination: The Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.
I do have to mention that the traffic surrounding the Arc de Triomphe was cray cray crazy. There are no lane markers, and since it's a large roundabout, cars are constantly merging and exiting. It was insane just standing there and watching the cars navigate the roundabout.
We strolled down the Champs Elysees; it was very crowded despite the cold weather.
For whatever reason, the train was SO crowded on the way to and from the Arc and Champs Elysees. I got fairly intimate with a few French people as did Mom.
The next day was Sunday, the day we left. We took a cab to Charles de Gaulle airport in the wee hours of the morning for a 9am flight. We arrived back in Dallas around 3:30pm.
A whirlwind trip for sure. I would highly recommend more than one day in each city for sight seeing! :) But it was a trip of a lifetime, and I am so thankful to my Mom for paying for our expenses. And I'm thankful to my friend Mauricio for giving us the opportunity to do this.
This was an eye opening trip. I'm so used to my little world (or bubble as it were) here in Dallas. And I forget that there is a whole world with other cultures and people and sites that exists. I LOVED Europe and can't wait to go back, Lord willing.
