Welp we are finally back in the USA. It was a long 3 weeks for me but I got to do and see so many things!! I'm just glad to be back in the USA. It's was kind of scary being in Paris and London during the past week with all the terrorist things going on.
Trip review -
First week - arrived early Sunday morning and met the crew in the airport. One of the guys from Kimberly Clark drove us out to Maidstone (1hr east of London). That was an adventure but we made it safe. Thank goodness for GPS. We checked into the Hilton and all crashed... we all ventured down in the evening and had dinner.. We worked at Kimberly Clark during the day then went out and exploring at night. We got lost the first night when we went to go find a restaurant Scott wanted. Well it took us to a different town. We found a really old building (over 300 years old) and a super cute town. Pretty neat.
First Weekend - We all headed to the train station Saturday morning and split up.... I headed to meet up with some friends from college. They took me all over London on Saturday and then I played lacrosse with Cynthia's team sunday afternoon before I headed back via train to Maidstone.
Second Week - same stuff... worked at KC during the day and explored at night... We found lots of different pubs to try. Hamburger is def not the same over there!!!
Paris (Friday-Tuesday) - Carl left Baltimore on Thursday night and arrived in London on Friday morning... he headed straight to the hotel and explored while I worked. I took the train into London once I got off work and met up with him. It was POURING (typical London) but we settled into our hotel and found a cute pub to have dinner!!!
-Saturday we got up early and headed to the Eurostar train station to checkin for our train to Paris. The train was painless and we were in Paris. We took the metro to our hotel and checked in. The hotel wasn't super nice but it wasn't a crapper!!! We went in search of food and then headed to see the sights. We started at St. Michaels and headed to the Arc de Triomphe. We basically plotted out everything we wanted to do and see. We walked along the road that leads to Arc de Triomphe and looked into all the shops. Crazy expensive but super cool to see.
-Sunday we got up and jumped onto the Hop-on/Hop-off bus that took us all over Paris and gave us some history too. We LOVED Notre Dame. It was sooo pretty inside and it was huge! We stopped at the Louvre and stood in line to get in. It was the first Sunday of the month so it was free. We got to see the Mona Lisa and a couple of other things then we headed to the next stops. It was pretty amazing to stop and see the city. There were so many things we saw and did, that I can't remember 1/2 of it. I do have the pictures to show thou. The city was super busy because of the free museums and also because the weather was awesome. We were beat after a day of non-stop so we headed back to the hotel to see if we could catch the Raven's game. We did and we relaxed and watched that. Raven's won :)
-Monday we got up and headed straight to the Eiffel Tower. We had become aware of all the terrorist threats so we were watching things more closely. We climbed the steps to the 2nd platform and then took the elevator to the top. I wasn't really impressed with it. It was a nice view but def not worth the hype to me. We came down and then headed to find some food. We then took the metro to see the Louis Vuitton store. WOW was that place CRAZY and expensive. It's a good thing that I don't like most of his stuff :) We then walked back towards the Louvre. I wanted to try some hot chocolate from Angelina's and I'm glad that we did. It was amazing!! After that we decided to head over to the Latin area. On our way we noticed that they weren't letting anyone near the Louvre. We are guessing a bomb threat so we kept walking basically until we hit out hotel again... We relaxed and then headed back to Arc de Triomphe so that I could see it lit up at night and also the Eiffel Tower. We were relaxing at the Arc du Triomphe, when all of a sudden a car made the circle and was dragging a duffel bag. The police pulled the bag away from the car and then cleared the Arc de Triomphe.... ugh, so another bomb... they actually blew it up, we stayed and watched (from across the street). We had enough and headed back to our hotel.
-Tuesday - we relaxed in the morning and then headed to the train station. I grabbed a Nutella Crepe. YUM!!!!!! OMG that was good!!! We took the Eurostar back to London, took the metro to our hotel in Hyde Park. WOW was this hotel amazing!! The room was awesome and quiet!! The walls at our hotel in Paris were paper thin. I was also in love with the bed!!! We pealed ourselves out of the room and headed down to the original Hard Rock Cafe. It was a quick walk from our hotel. It was pretty neat to visit and see the vault.
-Wednesday - We got up and hit the executive lounge for breakfast. Free and Super yummy, plus free wifi. We then got passes again for a hop-on/hop-off tour of London. We went around the city and explored. We spent most of our day in the Tower of London. WOW that place was my favorite. There was soo much to learn and see. I would love to go back and explore. The Crown Jewels were amazing. I have never seen a diamond that big. We also decided to do that London Eye that day because the weather was amazing. It was pretty cool and I'm glad that I did it but it's def over-rated. You can see for miles and miles though! We got back to the hotel and hit the lounge again for free after dinner drinks and free wifi.
-Thursday - same breakfast as Wednesday. We went out to catch the bus again and to see the rest of London. I really can't remember everything but London is full of history and could easily spend more time there. There is so much to see and do. We got back from our travels and prepared for a nice steak dinner at the JW Steakhouse. The dinner was okay. I was disappointed with my steak but it was nice to have quiet time with Carl.
-Friday - we took a bus tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, LaCock (harry potter was filmed here), and Bath. Windsor castle was AMAZING!!! Who knew people lived like that. It was beautiful!! Stonehenge was pretty cool. It is def a pile of rocks but very cool that they really don't know why or how they got there. We then went to lunch at a pub that holds the oldest liquor license in England. It was also the same town that Harry Potter was filmed at. Super cool!!! Last but not least we headed to Bath. This was neat but I don't think I would ever go back :)
-Saturday - we packed up and headed home.
Sorry this was soo long. I hope to get pictures up soon!!
