I Heart Paris!

First let me say, I love Paris. If there were anywhere in the world I would love to live it would be Paris. I have enjoyed every trip to France I've taken. This trip was a bit a whirlwind and full of surprises. It was only supposed to be a day trip from London. We caught the train in Waterloo Station at 5:00 a.m., we went under the Channel and arrived in Paris at 9:00 am. It was so cold when we got there. I didn't bring a jacket because I thought we were only going to be there a few hours. We hopped on the subway at the train station. Paris probably has the best public transit system in the world. The subway is so easy to take and you can get virtually anywhere.

So we headed down to the banks of the Seine River to St. Chapelle Cathedral. It's smaller and not as well known as Notre Dame but it's beautiful. The stained glass windows are quite impressive. The walls were pretty much made up of windows and they were huge. The rose windows at the either end of the cathedral were beautiful. (My picture isn't so good here, I didn't get the lighting right- see me?)The cathedral was so much smaller than what it appeared to be on the outside. It had two levels to it as well.

We then walked down to Notre Dame Cathedral after that. Notre Dame Cathedral, as always, was beautiful. So many people visit the Cathedral every day. This trip we were fairly lucky since we got there so early. We did not have to wait in a long line to get inside. Here I am with the cathedral in the back ground.


The sun finally came out and started to warm everything up. It was turning out to be a lovely day. It looks like a cold winter day but it was actually a nice spring day. It didn't rain the rest of the day.

This is a picture of an alley of the Left Bank of the Seine. I just like it. We walked down the Left Bank to the Musée d'Orsay.

Here are some of the places we got to visit while we were in Paris:

The Musée d'Orsay. I loved this museum! It houses a vast French impressionist collection (mostly from 1848 to 1914). Some of Monet's and Renior's most famous works are there. The Orsay was originally a train station. This is a must see for anyone going to Paris, but it's closed on Mondays. I only this because on my first trip to Paris it was closed the day I wanted to go. I was very excited to see the Orsay on this trip. I love museums, it must be that history thing.

From the Orsay we took the subway down to the Arc de Triomphe. We got on the SARA train to get to the Arc.
This was so much better than I thought it would be. There is a viewing deck on the top of the Arc. I could see all over Paris from here. Here are a few pictures : The view down Champs-Elysees was amazing.

After we were finished with the Arc, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. I saw it on my first trip to Paris but it is always so exciting to see. I took quite a few pictures of the tower:

















The line for elevators to the top was about three hours. We still wanted to see the Louvre Museum so we decided to forgo the trip to the top.

The Louvre is amazing. I could spend a month there and still not see everything. I really enjoy the Louvre and it is a must see in Paris too, but I like the art in the Orsay a little bit more.
By the time we saw the Mona Lisa and checked out some of the other art it was time for us to leave Paris. We got on the subway and headed back to the train station when we arrived we saw this:There were no trains going to London from anywhere in Europe. A fire broke out near the Waterloo Station in London and all rail traffic was shut down. We were stranded in Paris with no clothes, no hotel, and no idea of how we were going to get back to London! Luckily, after searching the nearby hotels, which we learned were all booked, we decided to try the hotel we stayed in on our previous trip. We were so happy to be back at our cute little Parisian hotel, Hotel Astor Saint Honore. We were very tired by the time we arrived though. We weren't quite sure what we were going to do the next day.

London

I took my first trip to London in March. My mom and I flew over for a week. We had a great time and got to see many great things. We also took a day trip down to Paris, which was fabulous as always. The first night we were in London we got to see Wicked. I was really excited to go to the theater while we were there. I really enjoyed the show too. I only regret I didn't see more while I was there.
The next day was our first full day in London. Here are some of the things we did:On our way to Buckingham Palace I met this nice officer. He let me take a picture with him. How nice.
This is me in St. James Park. We were walking through the park to get to Buckingham Palace for the grand changing of the guard ceremony. All the daffodils were in bloom since the weather had started to warm up a bit. The park was covered in green and yellow. It was very pretty.
Me laughing (what else) at the giant bird that just flew over my head.

This little Italian boy was the cutest. On the other side of the fence is the water and all the swans and ducks. He wanted to go play with them. He started to crawl underneath the fence, stopped, looked up as his dad and said "Ciao Papa!". Then he continued to try to wiggle underneath the fence. It was the cutest thing.

Here is Buckingham Palace behind me. After all our efforts to see the changing of the guard, we just barely missed it. We were able to catch the end of it however. This poor old man had no clue why we wanted our picture taken with him. He looks bewildered.

Westminster Abbey! This was very fun to see. The Abbey has been around for almost a thousand years. Almost every monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned there and there are over 17 monarchs buried there including Elizabeth I. Many other famous people buried here too like Charles Dickens, Oliver Cromwell, Winston Churchill, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Issac Newton, and William Shakespeare just to name a few. Actually there are over 3,000 people buried here. Not all of them have head stones or monuments. It was very fun to walk around recognizing peoples names carved in stone on the floor. The Abbey was very beautiful too. I am really glad I got to see it.

After viewing the Abbey we walked over to Parliament. It was right next door. After going through a rigorous screening process they let us inside. It must not have been a big debate day because it wasn't very exciting and there was hardly anyone there. But it was fun to sit in the gallery and watch what I see on CSPAN live. I don't have my pictures of Parliament to post. I will have to find them. This is what Parliament looks like on the outside.

Right around the corner from Westminster Abbey and Parliament is Big Ben. This was another impressive landmark. It was more impressive than I thought it would have been.




I loved all the red phone booths on the streets. I figured I had to have my picture taken with one. I did look a little ridiculous on the street taking my picture in a phone booth however.








After viewing Big Ben we then headed over the West End to see Harrod's. Harrod's was huge! I couldn't believe how big it was. I wish we had a store like that in Phoenix. Then again, I don't need another place to shop!
The next day we headed to Paris.