Thursday, November 17, 2005
Paris / Stonehenge & Bath...
Date: 11-17-05
Location: Paris, France
I went to Paris for nine hours with Mandy Leblanc taking advantage of the 28 GBP Eurostar train deal. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there...and we left at 4:20AM. One of us didn't even go to bed yet from the night before...opps! We got into Paris at 9:30am, and fooled around trying to figure out their tube system (called the "metro"). We ended up walking to another metro station and found a bakery shop on the way. I had a
chocolate chip muffin and Mandy had a Strawberry and Sugar Crepe...wow both of those were so good. The prices weren't too bad considering I've been used to London's prices and the British Pounds bloody exchange rate with the US Dollar. We found out how to get the see the Eiffel tower, and were walking around a few blocks to find it. It popped up behind some building. It doesn't look nearly as tall as in the pictures, but when you travel to the top it seems so tall.
After going up three levels to the top, we got some
great pictures and headed back down. There were many beggars and people
who asked us if we were American and if could give any money. I ignored
them and moved on. We got back on the tube to get off at the Blanc stop on
the northern side of Paris in zone 2. Once we were there we stepped
out and Moulin Rouge was right there. The show is extremely expensive, so
the pictures from the outside would have to make due. We also did some
little touristy shopping in the area and moved on trying to find a place to eat
a late lunch/early dinner. We went down to the Lourve to see if some
places were a bit cheaper in that area. Across the street down 2-3 blocks
we went to a small cafe (which explains the picture of food in my Paris photo
album). It was quite good with the wine. Having French fries, French
wine, French onion soup in France made it that much better (some
good food for a change). Next we went to the Lourve, and saw the
Mona Lisa. It was heavily guarded with thick glass, 2 security guards
(watching for people even pulling our their cameras), and a railing and then
another roped off section past it! So many other great paintings were
around, I don't understand why Di Vinci's painting gets so much glory. It was
cool to see it though, and I can say I've seen it. Unfortunately, due to
time (it was about 4:30 at this time) we had to think about getting back and I
wanted to do some quick shopping. If my sister Lisa was at the
museum, she'd be there at least a week! haha. I wish I had more
time...maybe another time. After the Louve, I got in a few quick shopping
places. We bought some chocolate on chocolate Ice cream for 4 Euro at a
vender, and it was the amazing stuff I've had. It tasted like actual fudge
creame and choclate chunks and swirls were in it! I took a picture of that
too. We got back to the station just in time, and had our 2 1/2 hour ride
back to London, and as you can tell in the last pictures, we were exhausted!
It was a very very fun day trip!
Date: 11-18-05
Location: Stonehenge,
England
The Central trip went to Stonehenge. We got a little
reading material on the 2 hour bus ride to the site. On the side, we
walked around the stones, and listened to a audio tour with the little battery
charged datapads. It made some excellent pictures for the album! We
only stayed about 45 minutes before the hour trip to Bath.
Date: 11-18-05
Location: Bath, England
The Romans built Bath around 2,000 years ago. We
went to the downtown area and toured the bathhouse where they set up different
rooms for worship, leisure, and communal functions. The city's buildings
were all built of a sandy brown stone. Some upper class shops were in the
main strip, such as many jewelry stores, two NEXT clothing stores, and other
places that were mainly clothing stores. The city was very pretty with the
hills in the distance and some water running through the buildings. There
wasn't a lot of it, just a bit in some areas. It was a cramped trip with so much
history, I didn't get a chance to fully understand what we were experiencing,
but I tried to take from it the best I could. We were back on the bus by
5, and back in London around 8.
