London And Paris...

Hej Hej Everyone!

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. However, I'm here to tell you all about my trips to London and Paris :)

London:

We traveled through Ryan Air this time, so we had to get to a different airport called Skafsta. The problem with that is that we had to take a train into Stockholm then an hour and fifteen minute bus ride to the airport. Since we were worried about not getting there in time, we left at about 1:40 for our 9:40 flight. We ended up having about 5 hours to sit in the smallest airport I have ever seen. The entire trip went very smoothly, which was a great difference to the other trips. We arrived in London's Stansted Airport at about 10:50, but then we were then herded into a long immigration line that took us about an hour to get through. After we finally got through, we practically ran to catch the last shuttle to our hotel, The Days Inn, which we caught, thank goodness. We checked in and signed up for breakfast in the morning. The room was nice, much better than a hostel.

In the morning, it was raining, which made me a little sad, but it got better during the day. After we ate our breakfast, we got back on the shuttle to take us back to the airport. At the airport we found the train to take us downtown, which was about a half hour ride. We arrived at Liverpool Station at which we then proceeded to buy our Tube tickets for the day. Our destination was the British Museum, and after a few minutes trying to figure out how to get there with all the tube closings on Sunday. We made it easily to the British Museum but stopped before we got there to admire the parks around us. After about 2 hours or so, we started heading to a tube station. At the station, we saw directions to Charles Dickens' house, so we decided to find it. We made it to the street it told us to go to, but after we got to the street, we couldn't find it, we walked up and down the street for about a half hour until we finally found it, although we didn't go in. We then made our way back to the tube station and headed for Leicester Square. We were starving by this time and headed for some food. We ended up eating at KFC since Kristen wanted to. After sitting in there for about an hour and a half we just started walking. We made it to Piccadilly Circus and then down to St. James Park, which is right by Buckingham Palace. After walking around for a while, we decided to do our last thing for the day, we went to Kings Cross Station of Harry Potter fame. We took some pictures and then started to figure out how to get to our hosts' house, I shall refer to them as Grandma and Grandpa, or rather Liz and Robert Buck. We apparently took the long way round train which took us about an hour and a half, but G-ma and G-pa were very nice about it. They picked us up at Reading Central Station and then took us to dinner. Dinner was delicious and they made us get an appetizer, entree , and dessert. They are so incredibly nice! When we got to their house, which is beautiful, they showed us where we could sleep. There was one room with two twin beds and one with a big queen sized bed. Emily and Kristen took the one with the two twins and I got the other one since I would be waking up before them and making noise and such. And we also got our own bathroom, which I want. It was pink and white polk-a-dots, and oh so adorable.

On Monday, we decided to spend the day downtown again. In the morning, G-ma made us breakfast, and G-pa took us to the correct train station, Twyford, and sent us on our way. Our first stop in London was Notting Hill. I must say, that if I ever move to London, that would probably be my first choice, it's so pretty there. The weather was great too, at about 45*, I could take off my coat and be very comfortable. We came across Kensington Park/Gardens, which we walked around for a while, and Kristen and Emily tried to avoid the pigeons. When we were good to go, we left for the Tower of London. First stop: Pictures of the Tower Bridge. Before we went in, we had lunch outside on the steps, also trying to avoid the birds. The Tower of London was just as I remember it, cool. The crown jewels were pretty, and made me a little sick to think about how much money all of that cost, you could sell just one thing and feed a whole 3rd world country! After we were out, we decided to get ice cream since it was so nice outside, and then went ON the Tower Bridge. After another half hour, we made out way to Big Ben and Parliament. Lots of people just standing there. We were going to go inside West Minster Abbey, but we got there too late, so we decided to head over to Harrods. That store is so fancy, so we didn't spend much time there. We were trying to find a gift for G-ma and G-pa, however, we failed, so we headed back to Reading. We took the right train this time, and when G-pa picked us up, he got us fish and chips for dinner. IT WAS DELICIOUS! We were so tired by then, we planned the next day and then went to sleep.

On Tuesday we didn't go into the city, we went to Windsor and Oxford. G-pa drove us to Windsor, just 25 minutes away, and let us tour it for about 2 hours, then he drove us to the train station so we could get to Oxford. G-ma had, gratefully, packed us lunch so we could eat it on the train. We had to teach her how to make PB&J. Oxford is a great city, however we did start out in the wrong direction. However, we found a map and got onto the right course. We ventured into many school shops, where I bought an Oxford sweatshirt, and many other things....I could't resist on buying a messenger bag with the British flag on it. We saw a sign that said that the college in which they filmed the first Harry Potter was there, so we tried to find it. On our mission, we found many courtyards which we also ventured into. We ended up not being able to find the right college, we bi-passed it at some point, but that's okay. On the treck back, we thought about what we wanted to get G-ma and G-pa and it was the last chance we had. We stopped in front of a fudge shop where the person making it asked us if we wanted a fresh piece of it, and of course we said yes. So we decided to get them some fudge since G-ma has many signs in her kitchen that says she likes chocolate, for example, one of them says "7 days without chocolate makes one weak." We got back to G-ma and G-pa's earlier than usual, which is ok since she made us homemade Shepherds Pie and Tercel Tart (the favourtie dessert of Harry Potter..). Both were absolutely delicious. We used G-pa's computer to see what show we could make on Wednesday. G-ma said that if you go on the day of the performance, you can get really cheap tickets, so that's what we were going to try to do. We wanted a day performance, so we decided either Les Mis or The Lion King. We found out where the theaters were and then went to sleep.

On Wednesday we had to leave G-ma and G-pa. G-ma packed out lunch again. Our first stop was to see if we could get tickets. We put all our eggs in the Lion King basket, since Les Mis isn't really an uplifting show. We walked to the theater and they DID have tickets on the ground floor for only 20 pounds! We had about an hour and a half, so we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and Millennium Bridge. Then ate our lunch on the way back to the theater. The Lion King was filled with children, but it was a great show. We then tried to go see the Shakespear's Globe Theater, but we had bad information from G-pa, so we didn't get to see it. We then proceeded to the London Eye. We had about 5 minutes to get tickets and get on, so Emily and I ran. Kristen didn't want to go on it, so she waited for us on the ground. The city looks beautiful at night, and I am happy I decided to go on it again. After that it was time to head to the airport. Thankfully that airport is open 24 hours so it wasn't as terrible as Berlin.

I didn't try to sleep in the airport. I thought that if I tried to sleep and wasn't successful, I would feel more tired if I just stayed up, so I just read and listened to music. By the end, I walked around the airport seeing where we had to go once they posted where we could check in, and also where security was. Our plane took off at about 6 in the morning. I slept the whole way there, and I also slept on the bus back to Stockholm and the train ride home. So I was a little rested for my class at 4 that day. That night I didn't go to sleep early however, I played cards with Jackie and Stefan. It would make sense that I slept most of Friday. On Saturday I had my Dino class from 9 to 4 and again on Sunday. This didn't give me a long time to recover from London. On Monday, I had class that got out at 8pm, to which I went to bed straight afterwards since I had to get up at 3:50 to catch my 7am flight to Paris.

We had a taxi pick us up at 4:40 since the buses don't start until 5:15. We took the train to Arlanda airport and everything went smoothly. We only had to wait for about 45 minutes before we boarded. The flight was about 2 hours and when we arrived, we had to figure out how to get downtown. We eventually figured it out, thanks to the directions on the Hostel website. We made our way to the Vintage Hostel easily from Gard de Nord. Thankfully we were able to leave our luggage in the Hostel while we went out that day since we couldn't check in until 4. We were pointed, in the wrong direction may I add, to the nearest Metro station. The problem with being in France, is that it wasn't in English, so thankfully the man working near the ticket dispenser helped us, with his little English, and then another lady helped us also. I had very good interactions with the French while I was there which I was not expecting, and was a nice surprise.

Our first stop was the L'arc de Triumphe. However once we got to Champes Elysee, one of the main streets, lunch was necessary, so we went to McDonald's, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! It was extremely busy there, but we managed to get our food rather quickly. Photo Ops were then taken from a distance, and while we were doing this, we saved a few Italians not get killed trying to cross the horrific trafficked street that goes around the Arc, by telling them to go underground. We decided to go to the top of the Arc, but what we didn't expect is that we had to walk up the 100 or so steps up to the top, but it was worth it. It was an amazing view with the Eiffel Tower. We watched the traffic beneath us for a while, wondering how they know when to go and when to stop for other cars, it's bewildering.

After the Arc, we did some window shopping on the Champes Elysee, with no luck. So then we went to the Eiffel Tower. One thing about the Paris metro is that it's not as clean as the Tube in London, and it's a little sketchier, AND it's a little more confusing. We spent most of the day at the Eiffel Tower. We went all the way up to the top, which was interesting because the others, Kylee, Emily, and Kristen, aren't particularly fond of heights. When we got down from the top, we went into the lawn that's in front of it and took many a picture. It was dinner time, so we went in search of a Cafe, and we were in luck because there was one that was amazing about 20 ft. from the Eiffel Tower. We ate for a while, eating takes a long time in Paris apparently. By the time we left, the Tower was lit up, and we waited for it to start sparkling. Once the sparkling happened, on the hour, we listened to Journey on Emily's phone, while dancing, it was quite the experience. It was then time to go back to the Hostel, check in, and go to sleep.

On Wednesday, we started off with going to see the Moulin Rouge. We decided to go during the day before it wasn't necessarily the best place to be at night. There was a crepe stand on the corner next to the Moulin Rouge, so I got a chocolate and banana crepe, however, I also seemed to order coconut, but it wasn't that bad. Next stop was the Louvre. It is an amazing building and we had a fun time just looking at it. When we finally made our way into the building, we were pleased to know that we could get in for free since we are E.U residents for at least 6 months! I saved 9.90 Euros! We were on a mission to find the Mona Lisa, which we did by getting a lost a few times. It was bigger than I imaged since people kept saying how small it was, I guess I would say I was pleasantly surprised. We also saw the Venus statue. Next was shopping on the Rue de Rivoli, another main street, but first, it was so nice outside, there was a lawn on the way out, so we laid down for a while, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, it was a cool experience. On the Rue de Rivoli is where I did my tourist shopping. I did buy coasters with classic art on them, I know it's a weird purchase, but they will go nicely in my apartment next semester :). After lunch at, again, McDonald's, we headed to Notre Dame. It is an imposing structure, however I've seen a lot of cathedrals in this short period of time, that I was a little underwhelmed. When we left, we tried to see if we could make it to Verssailles, however it closed at 6, and it was about 5 and it took 30 minutes to get there, so that was a no. We ended up getting directions to the main shopping mall, and we did a lot of shopping, being mostly disappointed. I was determined to buy something in Paris, and I eventually did. We ended up eating at another Restaurant, based just on the price, so we didn't know how good it was going to be, but it ended up being fine. It was then time to go back and sleep.

In the morning, we had our free breakfast at the Hostel, and went on our merry way to the airport. We got there in plenty of time, however, the security line took FOREVER! It's the longest I've ever waited to go through security, and they had to delay the flight since there were still some people going through it. I got through and went straight on the plane. The problem is that they only had one metal detector and people apparently have no clue how to go through security, so that took up a lot of time. I was a prepared flyer though, and once I got to the station, it took me all of 3 minutes to get through and on the plane. And again, once I got back, I had class at 4.

That night Jackie and I bought plane tickets to Milan and Genoa, Italy for the Easter weekend. I am looking very forward to this trip, and I hope the weather is warm. It's getting better here, however it's getting very slippery with the snow melting and then it freezing over night. I even slipped today on my way to get my laundry, my hand landed in the snow, and half of my body was soaked. I hope the snow goes away faster.

For 2 weeks, home will only be 6 hours behind me thanks to Daylight Savings Time. We don't change our clocks until the 28th, since there isn't much daylight to begin with.

Well, that's all for now. Again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but as you can tell, I've been pretty busy.

Hope you all are enjoying the warming!

Happy Spring!!

Lindsay