Vive La France!!!

Thursday Oct 22/Friday Oct 23

We ran around London at 330am for our city buses and arrived at Victoria in plenty of time for our shuttle to Stanstead airport. It was about a 1 1/2 hour ride. We saw some other people at the airport and hung out with them after we checked in and went through security. Then our gate opened and Steph and I went to the bathroom before going down...big mistake: when we came out the sign said boarding and as we were running another girl said it had changed to last call. We ran and ran and ran! And then when we got there...there was a big line and they weren't even checking tickets yet. We still had about a 5 minute wait... Oh well! Better safe than sorry! :D

It was foggy so we had to wait an extra 1/2 hour and finally took off. It was only about a 2-2 1/2 hour flight to Marseilles, France, on the southern coast of France off the Mediterranean! We got shuttle tickets into town and luckily it was only a 20 minute bus ride. It took us straight to the train station where we validated our Eurail passes and got our first tickets to Paris for the same night. Unfortunately the overnight tickets we'd planned on (and checked online) wasn't available.

It was a beautiful view down this huge staircase just outside the station all the way down this long long road. We started walking and headed to the port. It was a pretty grey day, but we wouldn't let that get us down!! We walked around a little bit and got tickets for the boat to the Isle Frioul since the Chateau d'If was closed for the day. We were kinda sad we wouldn't get to pretend to be in the Count of Monte Cristo, but enjoyed the other island anyway. Since the weather wasn't the best there was hardly anyone else there and we hiked around and checked out the beaches, the view of Chateau d'If, and these 19th century ruins of what we think were army buildings or something. It was still really lovely!The Chateau d'If from our island!


Then it was back down to wait in the rain for our boat back to the mainland. We are true hobos: we brought our bread from home and had bread and water as a snack... :D

Awesome giraffe in the middle of the sidewalk made of books!!
We walked around a little more and decided to book it up to see the Palais Longchamp before going back to the station to catch our train. It was an incredibly long walk in the rain with our big backpacks but we finally made it! It was really beautiful, too! Very worth it! So then we scurried back over to the train station and waited for our late train. It was sooo nice to take off our wet socks!

It was pretty empty and once we found our real seats we settled in and spread out. There was no sleeping though, unfortunately! :(

We got to Paris later than scheduled, 12:30, but it was no big deal. Then we wandered exhausted around the station wondering where to sleep. To mom and dad's relief we nixed sleeping in the creepy train station and asked some nice police officers where the nearest hostel was. They heard "hotel" though, which was fine, but it just meant we were going to pay more. After checking out a few places we ended up at the Viator Hotel not far from the station. Since it was after 1am he graciously knocked 10 Euro off (my unintentional pout helped too!) so it was only .... *groan* 90 Euro...but safer and much nicer than a train station. After our long, stressful night it was really nice to have our own, quiet room with uber-comfy beds!

We slept in as much as possible and checked out right at 12 to make the most of our money and then set out to explore PARIS!!!! Luckily Steph eyed a map in the hotel lobby and snatched a few before we left...otherwise we would've been TOTALLY lost!!

First we went to the Bastille area and saw the Colonne de Juillet.

We tried to find Victor Hugo's house, but somehow couldn't despite the signs. We grabbed lunch though and had our first French baguettes--heaven!! ...but also probably so delicious since it was our first real food after a day of granola bars and bread! :D We took them to this beautiful courtyard to eat and then went toward the Ile de la Cite.

We walked around the Notre Dame. Luckily it was FREE!! It was really dark and beautiful inside--we loved the statues, paintings, rose windows, and gothic architecture. And the whole time they had their choir music playing, so that really set the mood!! We also saw a trap door in one corner of the ceiling that we like to think Quasimodo might use! :D Speaking of him, there was a guy outside dressed as the Hunchback taking pictures with people!

From the Cathedral we went over the the Palais de Justice and walked around to inside--really nothing to see--and then over to the Conciergerie. Then it was back over the river and around the Louvre courtyard. It is soooo massive, we couldn't believe it! And there was an INCREDIBLE view from the Louvre's arch leading to the gardens where you could see ALL THE WAY to the Arc du Triomphe--and that is a LONG way!! Wow!! Then we walked west down the gardens that had a lot of statues set up. In two of the fountains there were cymbols set up all over and people would throw stones at them to make them clang--very creative! We kept walking to the Place de la Concorde.

Then we went north to slowly make our way to our hostel. We hit the Place de la Madeleine and the Opera Garnier (the setting of the Phantom of the Opera!).

We stopped at a grocery store and then went up to see the Moulin Rouge. So cool and there were a ton of people around--crazy mixed with all the neon of the sex stores that surround the area! It was a lot smaller than I'd imagined but still really cool. On the same corner we also found the cheapest crepe stand we'd seen so far: 2 Euro compared to 4-6!! We had to stop!! I got banana and it was soooo delicious and really hard not to stop at every crepe stand we walked past from that moment on! Sooo good!!!

Then we headed toward our hostel, a little bit of a walk but we finally found it: the Peace and Love Hostel... It was decent and we had some really nice (and talkative) girls in our room. The bar right beneath us had really loud music, but I think it actually lulled me to sleep with how tired I was--slept like a ROCK.

I'm Alive!!!!

Fall break is going great!! Steph and I have calmly and not-so-calmly figured out hostels, buses, metros, and trains. We've been through France and just arrived in Brugge, Belgium. We're pretty excited to start seeing it tomorrow!!
Our 10 days are going waaaayyy too fast!!!

Fall Break!!!!!!!!!!

Wish us luck. Steph and I are leaving on our break at 330 tomorrow morning. We're taking the city buses (for the first time...) to Victoria Coach Station, then taking a bus to Stanstead airport and flying to Marseille, France!!

Then we're off to Paris. Then to Dunkurque, France, and then to Bruges, Brussels. We've got some French phrases ready to go!! Then it's over to Germany: Cologne, Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt for our flight home...

Keep us in your prayers :D

Wow, I'm Really Behind!!

Here’s the gist of what I’ve been up to!

A bunch of us got some scandalously cheap tickets to Dublin for November.
Molly and Stephanie celebrate our tickets!!

A few of us went around the Thames to check out the sunset. It was beautiful, of course, to see the city at dusk. There were these two awesome guys on one bank in some really tiny white shorts, no shirts, headbands, and tennis rackets that had chalked out a little tennis court on the sidewalk and ran around us doing that tennis “UGH!” and batting the ball around us. It was super funny!

For our last September art class we checked out Temple church.
Effigies of some Templar Knights

Oct. 1st was our day trip to Lincoln where we talked about the Jewish role in England and blood libels and such. Pretty cool cathedral there!View of the Lincoln Cathedral and a little bit of Lincoln from a castle wall tower!

Forgot Erin were coming on Oct 2nd--thought they were coming on the 3rd. Luckily I figured it out JUST IN TIME to get to Heathrow to pick them up. They were pretty happy about that and we got our Love Actually moment! Got them settled and we walked around St. James’s Park, Buckingham Palace, the Horse Guards, Trafalgar, checked out the National Gallery, around Piccadilly Circus and got some pub food.

We love Kareoke!!!

Sat. I took them to Portobello Market, which was absolutely crazy! I did homework while they did some site-seeing and when they got home we went to see The Invention of Lying. It was okay, but …just …don’t waste your money.

Sunday we went around Oxford Street and Marble Arch and went to check out Speaker’s Corner. I absolutely hated it! There was this absolutely crazy woman talking about Jews, etc etc. I really wanted to spoon out her eyes, but thought better of it. Don’t fight violence with violence.
All the people at Speaker's Corner.
Then we went up Baker St. and checked out the Sherlock Holmes gift shop since we didn’t want to pay to get into the museum.
Holmes explains another mystery to her trusty, yet slow sidekick, Watson. Just kidding, Erin... ;)

Then we went up the street to Regent’s Park and went paddle boating around the little water area. It was beautiful outside and super fun! Although, I don’t think Megan liked it when I would steer us under the willow trees that hung over the water. But WHATEVER!! It was hilarious!

Went to St. Paul’s on Monday and Erin and I trekked it up to the three galleries. It was pretty foggy and drizzley so it was hard to see far, but still really cool.

Took them to the Old Swan for drinks :)

Stephanie and I watched the first episode of this season’s the Office on Tuesday!!!! It was amaaaazing!!! I Finally found a site that would play it here…and it only took about 4 hours to fully load. Totally worth it!

Steph and I found a cheap flight back to London from fall break out of Frankfurt. So we had a starting and ending place…now just fill in the huge gap in the middle… Checked out train times and booked some hostels. YAY!!! Met up with Erin and Megan at the British Museum and saw some awesome Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stuff.Oh-So-Ancient Fistbump

Friday was our class trip to Canterbury. Pretty cool little medieval area of the town. Steph and I happened on some Charles Dickens stuff.
We had a fabulous tour of the cathedral, our guide was really cool and had great, detailed stories…even though we’re all experts on the whole Tomas/Henry II thing by now. Saw “Thomas’s Ghost,” his murder site, the Black Prince’s tomb, the pilgrims stairs where they had to climb up on their knees…lots of cool stuff and history there. Monument at martyrdom site:


The train home was packed because the previous one had been cancelled so a lot of us got to stand for about an hour…yaaay. Molly, Liz, Kelsey, and I played some games though so it was kindof a blast!
Liz is losing our train game :(


Took Erin and Megan to Camden Market and Borough Market on Saturday. And of course, they LOVED Borough Market, who wouldn’t! Then we went to the Imperial War Museum and through their extensive Holocaust exhibit. It was just staggering all the detailed, graphic information and footage and photographs they had. It was incredible.
Sunday, while Erin and Megan were at Hampton Court, Stephanie was a champion about fall break stuff while I worked on my paper. I don’t know what I’d do without her!! E, M, and I went out to eat and enjoyed our last evening together in London :(
Monday morning, the three of us got up early and got a traditional English breakfast down the street. I couldn’t let them leave without one! Then we rounded out their trip where we started: St James’s and the palace. I took them to the airport and we said our Love Actually goodbyes. It was great to have them here, though!!!!

Later, Steph and I went on my Jack the Ripper walk when it got dark. Very cool, although I think I was a little desensitised about him since I’d had to read a huge book about the whole thing last semester.

Tuesday, Steph and I went on a book walk that took us around Keat’s House and to Parliament Hill where the Gunpowder traitors were going to watch Parliament blow up--VERY cool. And there were BEAUTIFUL views of the city despite all the modern buildings.

Started watching Jane Eyre on YouTube. Steph’s first time and I’ve really missed it. Such a bonding experience :)

Friday was our class trip to Hampton Court Palace. It was really huge and beautiful. The inside didn’t have as much to offer as the grounds, though.
Molly and I are getting so good at jumping!


We went through a maze and pretended we were in the TriWizard Tournament!!! So much fun. Then we went around the Long Water…and very aptly named because it took forever! But on the way we walked through the Deer park and it was really cool being so close to them. Back up the Long Water though, we’d gone up the wrong side so we had to hop the fence! It was a great and exhausting day!!!

And it was truly a Harry Potter day. Even the lawn decorations were decked out for a quiddich match between Gryffindor and Slytherin! Well, I like to think so!

Megan and I had a beautiful Twilight moment :)

Saturday night I slept for a good 13 hours...feelin kinda under the weather, but much better today (Sunday)!

Whew! Now we're all caught up!