interstellarglue

The last days of our trip0

I’m feeling so lethargic, but I thought I should jot some things down about the last few days of our trip before I forget.

We overslept big time on our last day in Paris. I think I slept in until about noon or so. We didn’t manage to leave until about 1. We must have been exhausted. We grabbed (yet another) croissant and headed to the Musee d’Orsay. This museum begins where the Louvre ends. There were lots of realist, pre-impressionist, impressionist and art nouveau paintings! All my favs! Wee!!! Kyle actually enjoyed the Louvre more than the Musee d’Orsay, and I felt the opposite. What can I say, I’m a sap for impressionism. The thing that pissed me off was that everyone was obsessed with taking pictures of the paintings. I don’t understand what the point of that is… there are plenty of pictures of those paintings. The whole point of going to museums is to enjoy the paintings in real life. What bothered me about it was that I really wanted to look at the paintings up close, but people were so obsessed with taking pictures so I felt I had to back off. Anyhoo, it was a blast despite all that.

Next we decided to walk along the Seine and take in all of Paris. The sun was setting so we decided to spend our last night in Paris on a boat that went from the Eiffel Tower to the tip of the Ile Saint Louis. It was gorgeous, but what made the trip great was the tour guide. Her English was terrible and she sounded like a robot. Kyle and I had great fun imitating her. 

After the cruise we continued walking around the city and we came upon a gelato stand! I had coffee gelato and Kyle had chocolate (big surprise!). It was delicious! It was getting pretty late, so we decided to turn in for the night, as we had to leave relatively early the next day. 

The next day we pretty much went straight to the train station to go back to London. It was a good thing we did that, because getting through customs was pretty traumatizing. There were people everywhere and the British customs guy was pretty mean. He was drilling Kyle pretty hard with questions. Poor Boo. When we got back in London we went straight to the nearest pub. This was quite an interesting experience. Kyle had a hard time communicating with the girls at the counter. He ordered me a hard cider, but they gave us an orange juice with sparkling water in it. I seriously just chuckled out loud as I typed that. Why on earth did she give us that? I don’t understand! Especially because they had hard cider there! Kyle ordered a porter for himself, and she looked at him like he was crazy. She said, “we don’t have anything like that.” Kyle replied, “well… it’s on the menu…” She had a confused look on her face so Kyle just said, “whatever,” and he ordered something else. It was a very odd experience.

Next we went to the British Library. This was one of my favorite things we did. We saw some of Shakespeare’s original folios, as well as some of Wordsworth, Austen, Bronte, and Milton’s original writing. This was so neat- it was great to see that my heroes were actual real people that wrote down their stories with ink and paper. We also saw some of the Beatles’ songs scribbled on napkins and the back of birthday cards. It was so so so awesome. We also saw the original Magna Carta, and one of the original Gutenberg bibles. I know, I’m a nerd, but I thought all of this was so cool!

At this point, we decided we ought to check out the train schedule and get to our hotel near Gatwick airport. I was pretty sad leaving. I was realizing that our wonderful vacation was coming to an end. The train ride to Gatwick airport was nice. We got to see some of the English countryside. We got off at the Gatwick airport stop, and decided we would walk to our hotel, as it was less than a mile away. I can’t even explain how wrong we were when we thought this was possible. We asked about 4 or 5 airport employees how to get to the road and they each gave us different directions. We simply couldn’t figure out how to leave the damn airport!!! After about an hour, we still made absolutely no progress. We had no will power left at this point, so we decided to take an 11 pound cab ride to our hotel that was a mile away. Wah! We were pissed but we also didn’t care. We were just so glad to be in our hotel. We watched an episode of BBC’s the Dragon’s Den (fabulous show!), and then went downstairs to the restaurant for a couple of drinks. They were playing music videos from the 80’s, and Kyle and I had great fun making fun of them. I’m sure others weren’t amused by us. Oh well. 

The hotel had a shuttle that goes straight to the airport for only 3 pounds, so we were stoked about that. We were out of cash, so we went to the ATM outside of the hotel to get money for the shuttle, but for some reason, our ATM cards wouldn’t work! Since we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, there was no way we could get cash. MEH! So the next morning, we had to pay another 11 pounds for a taxi to take us a mile away. We were so irritated, but there was nothing else we could do. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We went through security and found out that our flight was delayed. This was a bit of a bummer, but it gave me time to shop! 

The flight was pretty bad. It’s pretty hard to sit and do nothing for over 9 hours. I watched Made of Honor (horrible beyond words), Kung Fu Panda (cute!) and the Cosby Show (hilarious!). Since our flight was delayed, we were worried that we wouldn’t make our connecting flight in Texas. We were pretty nervous when we were in the line for Customs. I thought the U.S guys would be mean to us and drill us with questions, but they weren’t bad at all. 

We didn’t see one Mexican restaurant in all of London or Paris (Kyle was going through withdrawals), so during our layover in Texas we got some veggie burritos for dinner, which ended up being completely disgusting. For some reason Kyle and I didn’t have seats together on our ride home, which made the flight horrible for both of us. I do have to give Kyle credit for dealing with a much worse flight than me though… Mine was bad because I was freezing and incredibly tired (but couldn’t sleep), but Kyle had to sit for 3 and half hours and listen to some guy blab his ears off. This guy talked about everything from geology to aerodynamics. Poor Kyle! Haha!

It was truly nice to get back home. It was even more nice to see my baby! I could tell she missed me as much as I missed her. It was great to sleep in our own bed. 

To be honest, I’m having a pretty hard time adjusting to normal life. I feel like I’ve been in a fairyland for 10 days, and now I’m back to reality, which is pretty hard. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get over it. 

I slept A LOT yesterday. And I watched a lot of Project Runway. A LOT. Oh god, I love that show. 

Anyway, the trip was a dream. It was even better than I could have ever expected it to be. And yes, I do want to go back. Anyone want to contribute to the Take Kyle and Tara Back to Europe Fund?

Posted: London, Paris, Vacation

J’adore Paris Part Deux0

Yesterday was a wonderful day in Paris. We kicked off the day with another pain au chocolate (those things are crazy good). Then we took the Metro to the Ile de la Cite, and went to Notre Dame. We walked around for awhile and did the audio tour, which was pretty cool. The cathedral is breathtaking. We decided against going up to the towers, because they charged for it and there was a huge line. I told Kyle I really didn’t want to spend what precious time I have in Paris in a line. So we decided to stroll around the Ile de la Cite and then we took the bridge over to the Ile St Louis. My tour book guided us to a delicious place for ice cream. I had tiramisu, and Kyle had chocolate. It was divine! 

Somewhere in there we stopped for lunch. I had the pizza margarita and Kyle had a potato omelette. This was the first sit down restaurant we had been to in Paris. Our waiter was extremely nice and understanding of my inability to speak French. Who said that the French were arrogant and rude? I have found them to be quite charming. 

After walking around the Ile St Louis, we walked back over the Ile de la Cite and went to Ste Chappelle. This place was amazing! The walls are completely made of stained glass. Kyle’s friend told him he should go to the Latin Quarter, which isn’t far from where we were, so I suggested we walk over there. However, on our walk, I spotted the Louvre from across the Seine! It was pretty late by then, so I figured it was probably closing soon. I checked my guidebook and it said that admission to the Louvre is half price on Fridays, and it stays open until 10! Lucky us! So we went in, and we saw signs that say that after 6 p.m., people under 26 years old can get in for free! Yay! For once, we don’t have to pay! We did, however, pay for the audio guides, because those things really make the experience better. We did the “masterpieces” tour where we saw the Venus de Milo, Victory, and the Mona Lisa, among others. Then we walked around on our own and saw some other wonderful paintings. My favorite is the Raft of the Medusa.

The museum was closing, so we had to leave, against our will of course. Our feet were killing us once again, so we sat on the ledge of a wall outside of the Louvre. We sat long enough to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It was magical! There was a carnival going on right outside the Louvre. I mentioned going on the ferris wheel would be fun, but Kyle didn’t sound thrilled about it, so we found the nearest Metro to go back to our hotel. On our way from the Metro station to our hotel, we found a street creperie. I had been waiting for this the whole time we’ve been on vacation! Kyle had an egg and cheese crepe, and I had the crepe royale (nutella, bananas, crown royale and cinnamon- they were out of coconut). They were both heavenly. We seriously wanted to go back for more! The man making our crepes was extremely friendly as well!

We got back to our hotel around midnight, and I don’t even remember what happened after that. I was so exhausted, I must have fallen asleep before my head even hit the pillow!

Today, the only thing I have planned is the Musee d’Orsay. I’m jonesing for some French impressionist paintings. I’d actually like to go to the Musee de l’art moderne, but we really don’t have time. There are lots of other things I’d like to do as well, but I don’t want our last day here to be packed with things to do. As I’ve said before, the best part of enjoying a city is to relax and not have much planned. 

Paris is truly an incredible city. Simply sitting in a cafe, eating good food, and having good conversation is probably the most fun you’ll ever have. 

Posted: Paris, Vacation

J’adore Paris0

It was pretty late when we got to our hotel in Paris on Wednesday. We had to take 3 trains to get here from the Eurostar station. We did pretty well navigating the Metro system. Thank god we already had experience with the Tube, or I’m sure we’d still be trying to get here! The room is SO nice- at least compared to that coffin we were in before. Let’s just put it this way- the bathroom is about the size of our entire room in London! And we can watch CNN in English, which is pretty nice. After we got settled, I jumped into the shower because I felt disgusting, and Kyle went out to find food. He came back with two tomato and cheese panini and a bottle of wine. Yum! There are restaurants, cafes, patisseries, boulangeries, etc., EVERYWHERE! It’s insane! We’ll never have to worry about not finding a place to eat. It’s wonderful.

Yesterday was our first whole day in Paris. It’s really hard to believe we’re here. It’s so incredibly charming. The first thing we did was find a patisserie and got some pain au chocolate and espresso. We found a bench and ate our breakfast while doing some people watching. The pain au chocolate was ridiculously delicious. There are no words to describe how good it was. Next, we walked to the Tour Eiffel, and found a spot along the Seine to chill out for awhile. The Tour Eiffel is so much bigger than I expected. It’s quite a beast. We soon crossed the Seine and took a stroll to the Arc de Triumph, and then we walked down the Champs Elysses. We found a chocolatier, and Kyle had another espresso and I had some Sorbet peche (peach sorbet). It was so good! It was so fresh and natural tasting! Next, we walked to a nearby park to figure out what we were going to do next. Then, all of a sudden it started raining, so we ran to the nearest Metro station. We decided to go to our hotel for awhile, and then go out again. But we were so exhausted, and our feet hurt so bad that we decided to stay in for the rest of the night. We realized that we had been on the go since we arrived in London, and that we needed to take a much needed break. We stopped at a market and got a baguette, brie, cookies, wine and water, and then headed back to our hotel. The wine, by the way, was cheaper than the water we got- and it was just as good as a $15-$20 bottle we get back in California! We spent the rest of the night pigging out on bread and cheese and watching The Tudors. It was really nice. 

We only have 2 and a half days left in Paris so we have to make them count. I think today we’ll go to Notre Dame and Ste Chappelle, and then tomorrow we can go to the Louvre. There are lots of other things I’d like to see, but I’ve found that the best way to enjoy a city is just to walk around and soak everything up. 

I’m actually having fun with French. The people here are so nice! In fact, I think Parisians are even nicer than Londoners! I’m trying really hard to use French when we’re out, but they seem to have no problem using English with me. I’m starting to remember all sorts of words too. It’s funny, Kyle is really scarred when we’re out. He always makes me order for him! It’s cute. He’s getting better though. I made him order the baguette yesterday, and he did just fine.

Well, I’m going to take a shower so we can go out! A bientot!

Posted: Paris, Vacation