As Audrey Hepburn said in her famous film "Sabrina," "Paris is always a good idea."
Well...maybe not for two rookie world traveling girls from the Midwest during the 21st Century.
I will take the blame/fame here. It was my idea. I thought it was every girl’s dream to spend a week in Paris. It was mine. I have Madeline, Anastasia and Audrey to blame for these notions. I have the surplus of American merchandise with the Eiffel Tower on it and with fashionable girls wearing a beret walking a poodle and eating a croissant to blame for the fanciful depiction of the City of Love and Lights.
Day 1
Despite her concerns, I convinced Lexy that Paris was a good idea. Audrey told me so and I never second-guess Audrey. Emerald had to go back to college, so it was just Lexy and me who hopped on the Eurostar at the stunning St. Pancreas Train Station. We missed Emerald already!
The Eurostar can get you from London to Paris in two and a half hours, traveling up to 186 miles per hour and going under the English Channel for only 31 miles. The train ride was not as scary as it sounds. It was actually quite nice. It doesn’t feel like you are under the water for very long at all. I am claustrophobic, so I made myself sleep, or pretend to sleep during that part to keep myself from thinking about it too much. Our trip to Paris was going smooth until we got off at the Paris Gare du Nord station.
As soon as we got off the train, nicely dressed men approached us. I made the mistake of the uttering the word “taxi” to Lexy. The men proceeded to harass (I use the world in all literalness) us about if we needed a taxi. One man followed us from where we got off the train, through a crowd, to the exit area of the station. Multiple men approached us asking us if we needed a taxi, we kindly said no. We went over to an ATM to get euros and were approached there, while we were extracting money, about if we needed a taxi. Whether these offers were perfectly legitimate, or if they would have overcharged us, or if they were creepers, it was creepy. It was extremely uncomfortable and off-putting, and it put an uneasy taste in our mouths for our entire Paris experience.
We got out of that forsaken train station, found a lovely lady taxi driver and made it safely to our hotel, a nice Marriott. The city surrounding us (away from the tourist locations) on our way to the hotel was dirty and congested with vendors, not the Paris I had dreamt of since I was a little girl.
Call us pathetic or whatever, but we holed up in our hotel for the remainder of the evening, enjoyed a nice dinner and watched Harry Potter. I had gelato for dessert because when in Paris. ;)
Day 2
Instead of sticking to the original plan of spending five days in Paris, we decided to cram the must-do’s into one day and go back to our beloved London that had been oh so good to us. We had three things we really wanted to see in Paris: the Lourve, Notre Dam, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t necessarily get an early start, but we were able to make it happen. We got around at a leisure pace, got metro (subway) instructions from the friendly desk boy and made our way into the city that had us clucking like chickens.
We pretty much dominated the metro that day. It was fairly easy to figure out the routes with a map. Our first stop was near the Louvre. We were still a distance from it, so we decided to get a taxi to make the most of our time. We weren’t having any luck finding one, but next thing we knew a guy rolls up on a bike with a buggy attached. The sign said 20 euros to get to the Louvre. I asked him if he could go down at all and he said 15. We thought- why not- and hopped on. It ended up being just the comedic relief we needed. He asked us where we were from. We told him America. He changed the cute French music playing to Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” LOL I would have preferred the French music but it was still hilarious.
We were riding along the Seine River when our driver pointed out that we were passing the famous Love Lock Bridge, which was way up there on my Paris bucket list. I didn’t think we would get to see it due to our condensed visit. He was kind enough to pull over and take our photos on the bridge. It didn’t have as many locks on it as I imagined. I did some research and discovered that the city of Paris recently started removing locks from the bridge earlier this summer because the more than 700,000 locks with an estimated combined weight of roughly the same as 20 elephants was causing damage to the bridge. I was so happy to see it and plan to go back one day and leave a lock on the bridge with my future hubby and follow the tradition of tossing the key in the river. I hope the city allows the tradition to continue!
We made it to the Louvre and handed our driver 15 euros. He held up his sign. In tiny letters it said “per person.” Lexy and I exchanged a look of, “We just got punked,” paid him 30 euros and laughed our way to the Louvre. It’s at least better than 40 euros.
I had an adorable photo opp when we walked up to the Louvre. A glamorous couple was kissing inside their Porsche under the entrance archways of the Louvre. No big deal.
There were tons of people at the Louvre. It is the world’s largest museum. It is housed in the Louvre Palace that was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century. At its center is the famous Paris landmark, the Louvre Pyramid, a large glass and metal pyramid that serves as the main entrance to the museum.
The museum was unbelievable! As if the artwork wasn’t enough beauty to behold, the walls and ceilings were gorgeously embellished with stone carvings, gold molding and romantic murals. You could spend days in it and still not see everything. Even during our high-speed tour, we saw several of the exhibits. The highlights were seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Alexandros of Antioch’s sculpture Venus de Milo, one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture.
Next on our metro route was the medieval Catholic cathedral, Notre Dame. Again, there were tons of people at this attraction. There were also a lot of armed forces patrolling around the church. I’m guessing it is up on the list as a terrorist target. We were pleased to find out that it was free to get in. The wait in line wasn’t terribly long, probably twenty minutes, and it was worth it. The inside of the cathedral was gorgeous, with high stone arches, chandeliers, sculptures and stain glass. My fascinations of the church came from watching the Disney movie, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” (We totally watched it that night in our room. My favorite part of the movie is when Esmeralda sings, “God Help the Outcasts” in the church. It’s so moving.)
This left the grand finale of our one-day Parisian adventure- the Eiffel Tower. We had caught glimpses of the top of it throughout the day, but seeing it in its entirety is a magical, surreal experience. We had dinner at a café near the tower with a yummy banana, nutella crepe for dessert. There were hordes of people surrounding the tour. I had pictured it more abandoned and peaceful in my mind. We found the perfect place to take photos next to a beautiful flowerbed and were having a ball pretending to be models in front of the tour. But our fun didn’t last long because multiple men approached us, telling us how beautiful we were. We didn’t like how aggressive the men seemed to be in Paris while we were minding our own business and just trying to get off a train or enjoy the Eiffel Tower. We didn't get to do the fancy French shopping I was hoping to, but we did go through a cute little flea market and bought some souvenirs. Lexy bought a cute pink beret and some Eiffel Tower gummy candy and I got some macarons :D.
We didn’t go to the top of the tower or wait around to see it light up. It doesn’t light up until 10 p.m. and we wanted to be back to our room before dark. I wasn’t disappointed though, one of my bucket list wishes is to kiss my husband at the top of it at night. I plan to travel to Paris again one day with my future husband for a romantic trip, hopefully when the country isn’t on alert from terrorism. I hope to see the famous arch, “Arc de Triomphe de I’Etoile” and I hope it rains at some point, because I have always pictured Paris beautiful in the rain. But I am glad I got to go with Lexy and accomplish all that we did in only one day. I was too close to the Eiffel Tower from London to not go see it! #YOLO
Day 3
We got back on the Eurostar and headed (home ;)) to London. I think I speak for the both of us when I say, I felt a relief of survival. Haha. Lexy’s mom gets the gold medal for being our loving travel agent from home and finding us an amazing hotel for a great price, the Strand Palace Hotel on the West End!!!!!!!! So dreamy! It was gorgeous and there were even those adorable doormen from the movies who get the door from you and help you with your luggage. After we got settled in, we got dinner at a delicious French restaurant right next to our hotel called “Salieri” and then got dessert at this adorable French pastry place called “Café Concerto.” Then we went to a play I had wanted to see called, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” about an autistic boy. I had heard wonderful things about it from my BADA classmates who had seen it, and they were correct! The acting and style of the play were excellent and the set was incredible! Every part of the stage lit up to illustrate the boy’s mind. It looked like a virtual video game.
Day 4
Being the English princesses we are, we slept in that morning and enjoyed exquisite high tea at our hotel. ;))) We explored the area surrounding our amazingly located hotel and did some shopping at stores like Top Shop and H&M. (My favorite store I discovered on the trip was Zara. I am so excited that we have it in the U.S!) Our hotel was right next to the famous Trafalgar Square and not far from Buckingham Palace or the heart of London where Big Ben is.
I had been dying to see a show at Shakespeare’s Globe. It was showing “Macbeth,” but I didn’t think we would be able to see it because the tickets had been sold out for a while. We called to double check and they told us if we got there an hour early, we might be able to get returned tickets. We took a taxi to the Globe and got in line an hour and a half before the show started. We got there at the perfect time because we were about fifth in line and the line got much, much longer behind us. We got lucky and scored two, amazing seats in the middle gallery! Although the Globe is famous for its standing stalls where the actors often interact with the audience, we wanted to sit to enjoy the 2+ hour-long play. It was killer! (Get it? ;)) The acting, costumes, visuals and live music gave the eerie magic of the famous Shakespeare story. During intermission, we got a gorgeous view of St. Paul's Cathedral at night. A preview of things to come tomorrow.
Day 5
We slept in, did a tad more shopping around and then went to see St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Princess Diana was married. It was unbelievable. Sir Christopher Wren designed it in the late 17th Century in the English Baroque style. It is one of the highest domes in the world. The most impressive part of the cathedral for me was all of the mosaic artwork by Sir William Richmond. My favorite mosaics in the cathedral were the three saucer domes of the Quire ceiling depicting God’s creation of the animals of the earth. I could have stared at the Cathedral all day. I loved when the priest asked everyone to pause and say the Lord’s Prayer. The cathedral hosts a prayer every hour and daily services.
Next we went to check out the world-famous designer department store Harrod’s. It was a little too crowded for our liking, but the food marketplace was incredible. I of course, swooned over the desserts. I had a salted caramel croquembouche.
That evening we had dinner at the yummy French restaurant next to our hotel again before we went to see the musical “Funny Girl.” We enjoyed delicious pink sparkling wine. I let Lexy pick out that night’s show, after she had let me pick the last four on our trip! Haha. The Saboy Theatre hosting it was directly across from our hotel. It was amazing! The lead actress, Sheridan Smith was hilarious. I have never seen the movie with Barbra Streisand, but I loved seeing the show with her famous songs, “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” The stage had moving tracks that added really neat visual effect for the dance numbers. This was my eleventh and final show I saw during my time in Europe. It still feels like a dream that I got to stay on the West End and go to shows! It’s not so bad that Paris sent us back early.
Day 6
We left our hotel bright and early to catch a bus to Windsor Castle. We had pre-booked this tour when we got back to London. It was a magnificent way to spend our last day in dreamland. The bus took us to Victoria Coach Station, where we switched to another bus. We had a tour guide who gave interesting information on the hour ride there. We had a bit of scare when we got there. After we got through security, an alarm went off and they closed everything down for thirty minutes. The security guards told us to clear the roadways and get on the lawns (the opposite of the typical requirements at a castle.) We never really found out what that was all about, except that it was maybe a drill. We don’t think it was a drill…but I was hoping Harry would come out of the castle and we would finally meet. ;)
Windsor is definitely the nicest castle I visited on my trip. It’s what you think of when you imagine a castle from a fairytale. Having been the home of 39 monarchs, it is the largest inhabited and longest occupied castle in Europe. It is the preferred weekend home of Queen Elizabeth II and often hosts the royal family.
We toured two exhibits, the grand state apartments and the place of worship, St. George's Chapel. The fist exhibit we saw was Queen Mary’s Doll’s House. It is the largest, most famous dollhouse in the world. It is filled with thousands of objects made by leading artists and even includes electricity, running hot and cold water, working lifts and flushing lavatories. The other exhibit was “Shakespeare in the Royal Library,” commemorating the 400th anniversary of his death. It had the original Shakespeare folios (some with notes in them from the King), accounts of performances at Windsor Castle, and art by members of the royal family inspired by his plays. I loved the exhibits and found them to be symbolic of my trip to Europe because I came to study Shakespeare and I studied Ibsen’s play called “A Doll’s House.”
The state apartments were unbelievably ornamented with artwork and artifacts. We weren’t allowed to take photos, but here are some courtesy photos.
That evening we thought about going to see a show but decided to relax after we did our final souvenir shopping and had dinner at, you guessed it, a pub. : ) Believe it or not, we actually ate at the same pub chain we had lunch at Windsor. We had no idea because they are each named differently. We realized it after we sat down and saw the menu, but we didn't mind because it was good! I had a cheeseburger with chips (fries) and made the mistake of putting mustard on it. Note to self: although most of their food lacks flavor, the mustard in England is typically spicy. Like really spicy. And the packaging looks almost identical to regular mustard. I soothed my sorrows with sticky toffee pudding and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was AMAZING. The perfect way to end my trip of gorgeous castles and delicious sweets.
Some of my prized purchases to take home :) xoxo
Day 7
Despite the rumors, it didn’t rain at all during the two weeks we were in London, until the day we went home. It’s like London was crying to see us go. We got a taxi to the Heathrow Airport and had smooth travels home to Missouri.
While I was in Europe for six weeks, it felt like a long time. But now that I'm home, it feels like a dream. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to take such an incredible trip at my age. I learned so much, I saw beautiful things, I ate lots of dessert, I laughed, and best of all, I got to share a large part of my adventure with two of my sweet friends. :) I'm glad I've gotten to share some of it with you through this blog. This trip verified that England really is the fairytale land it seems to be in storybooks. I know I will be back, and I hope this trip is just a glimmer of the world traveling I will get to do in my life. I am grateful for the safe, rolling green hills and small-town family I will always have to come home to.
Weekly woes of two traveling American girls:
1. The men in Paris- especially at the train station. And also, the creepy guy outside Buckingham Palace who was trying to videotape us. Ladies, travel with caution.
2. Getting through security and back on the Eurostar in Paris (especially with all of my luggage)
3. Testy people in line at the Globe trying to get return tickets to see "Macbeth." Sadly, they were Americans.
4. The weird security lockdown at Windsor Castle and no appearance of Prince Harry on horseback to save me.
5. Spicy mustard (This has been a weekly woe every week in Europe, but redesigning the infrastructure of my cheeseburger, and therefore, the anatomic makeup of my tongue on my last night in England earned it a spot on the blog.)
6. The $100 fee for my second suitcase to fly home. I had to buy another suitcase, because hey, if a girl's in Europe for six weeks, she's going to accumulate cute things. :) #worthit
Couldn't resist buying this sweater or taking this photo
“There’s such a lot of world to see”
