Natural History Museum London

April 27, 2010

Today I thought would be a good day for me.  I headed out in the morning for the Natural History Museum.  I walked through the dinosaur exhibit.

I walked through the body one, and then one about your brain.  Memory, that is what I need!

I saw some mammals, narwhals...if you know the song you're probably singing it!  And I saw a giant sequoia, well part of one.

I then headed to where they have a lot of gems.  This is where it got interesting!  I was looking through some gems in a back room, with a couple other people I believe and then a fire alarm starts going off.  A guy comes back telling us all that we have to leave.  I'm a little upset and frustrated at that but I go and wait outside.  After a couple minutes I decide to just leave, thinking I would be back, hah!  I just went back to Vandon House and ate lunch and just stayed in my room all day.  I've definitely started regretting not going out more.  I don't know what I was thinking!

One Year :)

I greatly apologize, if anyone reads these, that this is almost a year old.  A year minus a couple weeks.  On this day, the one that I will be writing about is April 26, 2010.

Today is Joe and my one year anniversary together.  We have been apart for most of that year as well.  Summer, Australia, and now London.  We did have those few months at BV but other than that, this relationship was definitely a long distance one.  Anyway, we decided that that night we would each purchase a cupcake or some treat and celebrate on Skype later on.  I went that morning to The Hummingbird Bakery, amazing!  I went "all out", for me at least.  I purchased two cupcakes and a slice of cheesecake. 

I headed back to Vandon House and made myself some lunch and ate my slice of delicious cheesecake.  For the rest of the afternoon I worked on blogs and was pretty productive with those.  (not so much anymore).  That night Joe and I skyped, reminisced, and ate our delicious treats!  Mine were better of course :)

No Marie Antoinette but a beautiful garden!

April 25, 2010

Today was the day.  The day I finally got to go to the Palace of Versailles.  A place I have wanted to go ever since I had started reading about Marie Antoinette. 

We got up and got ready for the day.  We packed our things and then went down to eat some breakfast.  They had cereal as well as baguette's and nutella, delicious.  We ate and put our things in the closet so we didn't have to drag around our backpacks all day.  We headed to the metro and then to a train that would take us to the town the palace was in.  This was cheaper than buying a tour, thanks to Rebekka for suggesting it.  We got on the train and just relaxed for out ride.  When we got there we got off and headed to the palace.  There was a long line, and we got in it.  Shortly after, "shortly" that is, Rebekka was thinking that people with student visa's could get in for free.  Once we made it inside to where they were selling tickets Rebekka asked.  Sure enough you can.  So we had wasted about 30 minutes in line, give or take.  We headed to where ticket holders go.  We got in line and once we got inside, the lady checking mine would not let me go, mine was not a real visa.  This was sad and horrible news.  So right before we went to go back in line for a ticket for me Rebekka asked someone and he said that it would be fine.  We ended up going to a different person and he let us go right in, thank goodness.   We got in and got our maps and headed through the halls.  It was so amazing.  I don't really know how to describe how much I loved going through the palace.

We walked through the different rooms.  I won't bore you with anymore pictures of the inside :)  We went through the gift shop and then headed outside.  Rebekka had to leave because she had to get back to Paris and then Troyes, something to do with a party for a friend.  I wanted to walk through the gardens so I headed there myself.  I got my ticket, my map and headed out.  The weather was so-so.  Cloudy sometimes, sunny others.  As well as some sprinkles I think.  I walked through the different areas of the garden with the many different fountains.  I even came upon a fountain show they show every 15 minutes or so.

(I was going to upload a video of a fountain at Versailles, but it had issues!)

I really wish that I would have had someone with me, but it was still better than not going at all.  The grass was green, flowers in bloom.  It was so perfect.  They have a pond, quite a big one, that you can rent boats and go row around, that would have been fun.  I also didn't have the time.  I took lots of pictures, some of myself which is sad and not as good as having someone take a picture of you, which I should have asked someone to do.  Oh well.  I didn't stick around to see the big fountain show, I will have to see that next time!  I wanted to head back to Paris so I had time to get my bag and make it to the train on time.  I got on the train and headed back to Paris.  I wasn't exactly sure what exit to get off of so I just got off at one that I thought would be close to the hostel.  It ended up being a place that we had walked to the first day, and Notre Dame was right across the river.  Since I had a little time I headed over to Notre Dame to actually go in it this time.  I wasn't quite as impressed as I thought I would be, and I also felt extremely bad for going right in the middle of service, oops.  I spent maybe two minutes in there and headed out.  I got myself a crepe, which I think I've had better, but still not bad.  I remembered the way I walked because a few years earlier Jessie, David, and I had walked the same way.  It was a nice memory to go back and see the same place again.  I headed back to the hostel and then back to the train station to wait for my train.  I was on the first level, waiting for the screen to say where my train would be leaving from.  Since it was getting fairly close to when it was to leave I went to a different screen and realized that I had to go up some stairs to get to my train.  Also since it was going back to London I had to go through security again, as well as get passport checked, bum bum buuum.  Two ladies looked at my passport, wondering why I could even go back to England, though they did notice the other four stamps I have from London!  They let me go through, a little less trouble than the airport.  I got onto the train, and someone was in my window seat, made me a little angry, but oh well.  I slept for most of the way, since I had no window to look out of :(  Once I got back to London I headed to the hostel and unpacked and rested up.

Heading to Paris

April 24th,

It was a Saturday and I was heading to Paris for the weekend to meet up with Rebekka Riek, who was my family's foreign exchange student when I was a sophomore in high school.
I got up early, 4:30 am, so I wouldn't be late to St. Pancras Station.  I headed out around 5:30 to the tube station, since it is the weekend and some lines are closed I wanted to be sure I had plenty of time to get to the station.  Long story short, I went an extra stop and then had to turn around.  Thank you paranoid self.  By the time I got to St. Pancras Station I was running late yet again.  I had to go through a short security and jog to the train but I made it on and all was good.  The train ride was about 2 1/2 hours long.  Once I got to Paris I easily found my way from Gare du Nord station to our hostel.  While walking up to the hostel Rebekka came up and we said our 'hello's'.  We checked in and paid but would have to get our room keys later since it was still a little early.  We put our bags into the luggage room and headed out.  We had both been to Paris before so we had a hard time of figuring out where to go and what to do.  We ended up just walking for a while and got on the metro to somewhere.  We stopped by some shops and then came upon the free tour of Paris, so we joined them for a little bit and then went our own ways again.  We then went in search of a place to eat.  We ended up getting McDonald's which was actually in an area of Paris that I had visited with David and Jessie a few years ago.  We sat nearby a fountain and enjoyed our chicken nuggets before heading to Centre Pompidou, which is a more modern building with giant pcp pipes along the outside.  We walked through the inside and into a shop they had. We looked around at some of the cool things they were selling and off we were again.  We walked a way's, looking for a metro station, no luck, but we ended up finding a church that was gorgeous inside!  Also with a statue of a head outside, odd, but very beautiful.

After we walked around inside the church we headed out, again in search of a metro.  We also enjoy getting sidetracked slash we didn't really have any plans for the day.  Rebekka and I ended up stopping in a cooking shop, they had many different pans, cooking utensils.  Rebekka Riek was in heaven!  I enjoyed watching her walk around the store being fascinated with everything in it.  I can't quite remember what she said but something about working in a restaurant, or just really loving to cook.  When we finished walking through the store we headed out and found our way to the Louvre.  Well part of it.  We didn't go in, as I had been there a few years before with Jessie and David.  We eventually did find a metro station and headed to Sacre Coeur.  We found a metro stop near it, but still had to climb very long hills.  Well worth it though.  When we got there we stepped inside and then sat on the steps outside for a bit.  It was getting quite hot at this point.  We enjoyed the view and people watching.

When we decided to head back to the hostel we grabbed some gelato first.  A little expensive but well worth it.  We stopped at a bench on the way down the hill and saw a band come through, it was quite interesting.

When we finished our gelato we got back on the metro and headed back to the hostel.  We sat around at the hostel for a little while so we could figure out what we wanted to do for supper.  We ended up deciding on going to a grocery store.  We headed out and found one maybe 5 minutes a way.  I got a baguette, gouda cheese, ham and a water.  Rebekka got an already made sandwich, she had a hard time making up her mind.  We walked back towards our hostel and sat in the back by the river.  We ate our food and just chatted, after I was done I  threw some of my leftover food to the pigeons, they always make me laugh, plus I always feel bad for them.  After that we got some long sleeves and headed towards the Eiffel Tower.  We got there in perfect timing, it was just getting dark.  I also think I took some pretty awesome pictures of it!

We didn't go up, I think we both had been up it before, and it also costs money.  We walked underneath it, I got some more pictures, then we headed across the street.

Rebekk Riek and myself

I can't remember what the building across the street was, I apologize.  It has a fountain in front of it though.  This is also the place where everyone goes and lays out there blankets and put all these souvenirs to sell.  Of course this is easy for them because they can then lift the corners of the blankets and take off.  While heading up the stairs I spotted an Eiffel Tower key chain that they sell, just lying on the ground, so I picked it up and took it!  My free souvenir from the weekend.  We then headed down by some steps and sat waiting for the light show to come on.  I was told that it comes on maybe around 9pm.  As soon as it gets dark the Eiffel Tower does light up, it is quite the sight, I love it.

After the light show we headed back to a metro stop and went back to our hostel.  We got ready for bed and hit the hay, resting for a trip to Versailles!!