Spring Break was the best! My best friend from high school, Kathryn, came for the week to travel with me. She met me on Sunday afternoon, which meant I was alone in Paris on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Saturday night I went out to dinner alone, which was an interesting experience and then watched movies in my hotel room. Kathryn was supposed to land at 7 am on Sunday morning, but her plane was delayed several hours so she didn't land until 3 pm. So Saturday morning I slept in and then ventured out into the city alone. I had visited the Musse de Orsay the day before with Kanci and Claire before they left, but still wanted to see Monet's water lillies. So I went to the Musee de l'orangerie. This museum was small but the water lillies were so impressive. I sat in the room for a good 30 minutes looking at them. Afterwards I walked through the park and ate lunch outside. I also wandered back to the Louvre to see the Egyptian exhibit but got so lost inside that I never found it. Eventually I headed back to the hotel to meet Kathryn.
After she arrived we went to see Sacre Coeur. The church was beautiful and when we got in a mass service was beginning so we decided to stay for the mass. The service was in French so we didn't understand very much of it, but the music was beautiful. After mass we went to see Notre Dame and had dinner at a French restaurant. After dinner we went to the Eiffel Tower and went back up to the top. This time we went to the first level which has a see through glass floor that goes all the way around the tower. We walked the full circle around on the glass which was honestly terrifying.
The next morning we woke up and got on a train to London. The train went through the chunnel, the tunnel that goes underneath the channel, which wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be. When we got to London we went to check into our hostel and then went to see the Tower of London. It was nice that everyone spoke English so getting around was much easier. The Tower of London was one of our favorite places we went. We took a guided tour and learned about all of the famous people who were imprisoned and beheaded there including Anne Boleyn. We also saw the crown jewels which were very impressive. Afterwards we went to get dinner at a pub and both ordered fish and chips. We also went to an ice bar where the entire bar was made of ice sculptures, even the cups were made of ice.
The next day we took a train to Windsor Castle and then went to Camden Town. Windsor Castle was beautiful and it was cool to see all the rooms that are still used today. At the entrance to the castle Queen Mary's old doll house was also on display. The doll house was extremely ornate and had running water, working electricity and it's own mini crown jewels on display inside. After the tour of the Castle we headed to Camden Town, which is an artistic neighborhood in London. We tried ice cream frozen with liquid nitrogen and walked through some outdoor shopping stalls. We went out to dinner later that night at a fun Asian restaurant and explored the night life in Camden Town.
The next day we headed over to Trafalgar Square to see all of the big London tourist attractions. We saw the giant lion statues outside of the museums. We also saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and walked through the park. We went to visit Churchill's war rooms, the underground bunker used by Churchill during the war that have been turned into a museum. The museum was very impressive but after being there for about 10 minutes I realized that Kathryn had no idea who Churchill even was when she commented that "He must have been a really important guy." After educating her on some basic English history we went to see No. 10 Downing Street, the home of the Prime Minister. We also walked past Big Ben and headed to Westminster Abbey. Inside the church we saw the coronation throne. Afterwards we walked across the bridge and went on the London Eye. We got a great view of the city and saw all of the places we had been. Afterwards we walked over to West End and ate a fantastic dinner before going to see the musical Kinky Boots.
Overall it was a great Spring Break!
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