18 Mar 2010

Thu Mar 18, 2010 Full Page

March 17 - Paris,or How to hit the highlights in 6 hours or less. Our morning started out heading to St. Pancras station where the Eurostar line heads to Paris. The train takes about 2hrs 15 mins to get to Paris, so it's a little fast. Anne had the brilliant idea to book the Leisure Select class which includes meal service and comfy seats. So safely tucked away from steerage, we took our seats. We met a nice couple from Houston, who were taking their 2 sweet daughters to Paris. This was their 2nd time in Paris, so they had a better idea of what they were doing, but they had a similar itinerary to ours. We had a plan to see Notre Dame, The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower and the Arc d' Triomphe. We made all the stops, but the only way to do it and keep your sanity...is either the Metro and walking, or taking a cab and spending money like you have it. Seeing as how we're out of shape and have been walking all week, we decided after the Eiffel Tower to finish our day by taking cabs. But before I get ahead of myself. Notre Dame. The cathedral is amazing. The stained glass on the inside is gorgeous, and the stonework both inside and out is beautiful. The only downside is having to avoid the beggars disguised as misplaced Bosnians. Just avoid eye contact and pretend to not speak English and they'll leave you alone..or for fun, give them a small amount of currency other than the euro, that annoys the hell out of them. Apparently beggars can be choosers. Anyway, back to the church. I was going to try to make it to the top, but while my heart was in it, my feet revolted, knowing that I had a lot more walking ahead of me. So we made our way a few blocks to the Metro station to head to the Louvre. On our way to this stop, we got our first view of the tower. The stop we used drops you off at Le Carrousel du Louvre which is a fancy bunch of shops. We entered the Louvre and headed for the Italian paintings section. We passed through the Greek statues and enjoyed them as we headed for the Italian paintings. We saw the Mona Lisa and headed back to the Metro to head to the Eiffel Tower. The line at the tower was nuts because they only had 1 elevator and the stairs open. We weren't about to take the stairs so we waited for the eleveator. We made our way up to the 2nd deck and enjoyed the view. I wanted to go the top, but our time was short and the line was not, so we caught a cab to the Arc d' Triomphe. The Arc is much bigger than I thought it would be and was very impressive. We took a brief stroll down the Champs Elysees and caught a cab back to the Gare du Nord train station. We had a few drinks at a cafe inside, and checked back in for our return train. We got in line to pass through British Customs and apparently were behind Mahmoud the Petrochemical Engineer as the customs agent read him the riot act. We passed through quickly and made our train with an hour to spare. We sat by the same couple and their children, who barely made the return train because time got away from them. The train ride home was the perfect end to the perfect day in Paris. Today we're not sure what we're doing..maybe nothing.who knows..it's vacation :) Later, Joe


Filed under Britain

Tue Mar 16, 2010 Full Page

Day 3 London - Or 1000 years of history in an afternoon This morning we slept in late after our long day yesterday. We got up and left the hotel at about 11:30ish to head out and get lunch. We stopped at a little pizza cafe by the hotel, but they were only serving breakfast. I'm not sure I want to get used to English standard breakfast - bland sausage, back bacon, baked beans, poached eggs, toast, hash browns and black mushrooms. I'll be glad to get back to some real damn bacon, american style..After breakfast, we bought our 1 day pass for the tube and hopped on at Queensway and headed to Bond Street to transfer towards Westminster. At Westminster, we were able to go to the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We actually visited the Abbey and rode the Eye. Both are highlights for different reasons. If you are a history buff or someone who enjoys visiting Cathedrals, then the Abbey is a must see. It's hard to get used to walking somewhere knowing that anywhere you step, you are walking on someone's grave. The floor is literally the final resting places for such people as Charles Darwin, Geoffrey Chaucer, and a good number of English Royalty. The building itself is beautiful with the monuments and stained glass. They were working on restoring parts of the floor while we were there. Before going to see the Abbey, we took flight on the London Eye. The trip takes about 30 minutes and is really impressive. Anne's not a big fan of heights, but I think she enjoyed it You can see almost the entire city due to the overwhelming lack of skyscrapers. We then decided to head to Picadilly Circus and find something to do that involved sitting down for awhile. We found a movie theater and decided to Watch Alice in Wonderland for the 2nd time. After that we decided to find the train station so we'd know where to go tomorrow morning for our train to Paris. We found it pretty easily and decided to go back to Picadilly Circus for dinner. We went to TGI Fridays...this was ok because I don't eat there when I'm at home ;) We made it back to the room and have packed for Paris. We're going to bed as it's a quarter to midnight now. Until tomorrow, Joe

Tue Mar 16, 2010 Full Page

London Day 2 - or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Tube. Anne and I started out the day with the main goal of mastering the tube system...otherwise getting around London is going to be an expensive thing. We started out the day with a little confusion on how to get to Buckingham Palace. Walking 2 miles was not the answer, although we probably walked more than that yesterday. So we hiked 5 blocks to the Notting Hill Gate tube stop, bought our 1 day TravelCard after 9:30 so we saved almost 2 pounds. We boarded the Circle Line train which took us within a few blocks of Buckingham Palace. We made it in time to get setup to see the start of the changing of the guard. We both really enjoyed it. Our next stop was Madame Tussaud, where we had tickets, only to find out we couldn't use our tickets until 5pm. So a quick change of plans put us at the Tower of London. Inside the Tower, we joined a tour with a Yeoman Warder(Beefeater)leading the group. We made it in to see the Chapel, where those executed onsite are buried, the Crown Jewels(Anne's favorite part of the trip)and the Torture devices(possibly her second favorite part). We got our pictures made with a couple of the Yeoman Warders and left the Tower. Next Stop, back to Madame Tussaud's. Since it was getting close to 5pm, the major tube lines around town were getting pretty damn crowded. The ride between our hotel and the Baker St. stop were wall to wall people. Luckily it only takes about 10 minutes, so it wasn't that bad. Madame Tussaud's is touristy, and starts out pretty cheesy, but by the end, everyone is having fun posing with the figures. I got my picture with Tiger Woods...we were either looking for where the lie was, or where his next hole was. We ate at Pizza Hut for dinner..and yes, it was pretty much Pizza Hut. We came back to the hotel and crashed for an early night. Today we are going to the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament(sans Funkadelic), and Westminster Abbey. Tomorrow, we conquer Paris....God help Paris.

Mon Mar 15, 2010 Full Page

I was going to type this all last night, but figured another 8 hours of sleep was more important. Our hotel was nice enough to le us check in as soon as we got here, but instead of doing the sensible thing and taking a nap, we hopped on a tour bus that was waiting outside and started sight seeing. Showing the what being up for over 2 days will do for decision making skills, I left the camera at the room and only grabbed the Flip camera. But before I get too far ahead of myself, the flight from Boston to London was rough. The flight was only just over 6 hrs, but it was completely full and I got maybe 90 minutes of sleep. My first sleep since Friday morning. But enough whining, I have time to sleep next week. We hired a driver to pick us up at the airport,and drive us to our hotel. I never asked our driver's name but feel reasonably comfortable calling him Sergei. He came to England in 1998 from somewhere in Russia and was obsessed with nice cars and 80 degree weather. Maybe I've seen too many movies about the Russian Mob, but I kept waiting for him to pull a huge gun out with a silencer. After checking in and getting on the bus, we stopped at the Baker Street stop, and got off. We walked around for a few minutes and decided to eat. Our options - British Pub, Pizza Hut or Cafe...we chose the Pub. We had burgers and beer for what was essentially breakfast. The burgers were ok, not great, but better than airline food by a lot. After eating we jumped back on the next bus and continued on our sight seeing path. We saw Picadilly Circus, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Harrod's, Hyde Park, and a lot of other crap, but at this point, I was too much of a zombie to get off the bus to do anything. So we headed back to the hotel and took about a 6 hour nap, ordered room service and proceeded to go back to sleep. So it's now almost 8am on Monday 3/15. I'm waiting for Anne to wake up and thinking about getting breakfast. Today we have plans to master the London Underground, see Madame Tussaud's and ride the London Eye. I promise I'll have the camera with me, and start to post things when I get back to the room. Tomorrow is probably Stonehenge and Windsor. Joe

Sat Mar 13, 2010 Full Page

Getting to London - March 13, 2010 I'm sitting in Logan Airport in Boston as I write this. I've been up since 6:45AM on Friday 3/12. I stayed up because we had a 6:15AM flight on 3/13. Our first flight of the morning was from Tulsa to Chicago, then continuing on to Boston. We made it to Boston with little trouble other than airplane seats are too small..or I'm too big. Anyway, as we sit here, we have 5 1/2 hours until our flight to London. We're both excited for the trip..and we could both use this vacation. We arrive in London at 6:50AM local time, which will be 12:50AM back in Tulsa. We can't check into our hotel until 2pm Local time, so the 7 hrs between landing and check in could get interesting. Luckily I talked Anne into packing fairly light by her standards, so I'll only have to drag 1 suitcase around town with us if they hotel won't let us keep them there. Our first order of business when we clear customs will be to head to Buckingham Palace and try to catch the Sunday changing of the guards. Hopefully I'll be able to get some video of that posted to either here or facebook. Until then, Joe & Anne

Sat Mar 13, 2010 Full Page

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