Versailles by Golf Cart

This morning we had breakfast walking down our street. Because Liz is awesome she booked us a hotel not only with a view but with an awesome street market too. We all got different pastries, ordering is always fun when you don't speak the language. You get to stand there and point and mumble under your breath the word in English only to have the lady giggle at you because she speaks perfect English but it's more fun to watch you stumble your way through it.

After eating our awesome breakfast we got on the train to go to Versailles. It was pretty weird on the train because we were basically the only people on it and that seemed a little off for the train going to Versailles so we got off that train and on a different one where there were tons of tourists so we knew we were in the right place.

Once at Versailles we had to wait in a big long line to get our tickets because we didn't buy them a head of time but it actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I found out that as a "student in Europe" or because I was studying in London, I got to go in free, which saved me a lot of money. I still had to buy a ticket to get into the garden but it was totally worth it.

So we decided to go to the gardens first because the line for the Chateau was really super long. Well the gardens at Versailles are, in my opinion, the reason to go there at all.

But they are also huge and its pretty unrealistic to think you can walk around them in an afternoon and see everything, so we didn't, we drove all over them in an afternoon and saw everything. :) Versailles was brilliant when they decided to rent out golf carts to people and so even though they were not the cheapest option, Joe was gracious enough to rent one for us, and it was the best money we spent on the trip.

So we got in our Golf cart and set off around the gardens, listening to wonderful (for the fist few minutes) classical music. It was really cool because the golf carts music would stop and tell us cool things about whatever significant thing we were near.

The gardens we absolutely amazing. One of my favorite fountains was this one. I don't remember exactly who it is supposed to be but I know he's being punished. It was just really awesome.

I also really liked the sculpted bushes, and the statues.

The gardens have this huge man made lake in the middle of them, people can even rent boats to take on it, we didn't we got ice cream and fresh squeezed orange juice instead.

These are some of the stuff we saw in the garden

On our way back up to the Chateau the fountain show started to go off.

There was a really annoying security guard that wasn't going to let us go back up to the Chateau because we had to go up past the fountain show and I couldn't find my ticket, and to make matters worse I hit my head on the roof of the golf cart when I was looking for my ticket. When I finally found it he let us through and we went and got in line for the Chateau.

Unfortunately the line was no shorter near the end of the day than it was in the morning. That was our plan that by the end of the day everyone would've started in the Chateau and made there way to the gardens but I guess more people had the same idea we did. The line was pretty long and we were actually getting pretty worried that we wouldn't get in before it closed but thankfully we did. There was this really annoying lady who tried to cut in line in front of us but we didn't let her. Some people behind us weren't paying attention and the lady cut the line. I really dislike people like that.

Sadly once inside it was my least favorite Castle/mansion/Chateau of my whole trip. not because it wasn't amazingly beautiful but because I have never felt more like cattle in my life.

I guess something happened in one of the rooms before we go inside because it created a huge road block and bottle neck from one really big room into a really tiny one. It was seriously like being in a sardine can and it didn't help that we had a certain group of tourists behind us with no sense of personal space. One amusing thing about it was that Joe and about three other tall guys were having a conversation over every one's heads.

The room I liked the best in the Chateau was the hall of Mirrors. It was just awesome. I would totally have a grand ball in there some day! :) I wish!

After we went through the Chateau it was time to leave so we walked back to the train station.

Once there we found our that our train tickets didn't work to get back to the city apparently a lot of people were having the same problem because there were super long lines for the ticket machines. I realize this is just a way they make money off of it but it is really annoying and you would think the train station would want to avoid "almost-riotous" situations.

When we got back into the city we went and had dinner at a really nice place where we could see the Eiffel Tower from our table. Then after dinner we decided to walk down to the Eiffel Tower. It was raining a little but it didn't matter except one of the places we walked was really slippery and Liz almost ate it.

Well we got crepes and ate them under the Eiffel Tower. Nothing gets better than that!

It was seriously awesome. Actually accomplishing things on my bucket list is pretty awesome. After that and a few, or a lot, of pictures we went home for the night.

Oh darn I had to go to bed seeing the Eiffel Tower out of my window again.

Goodbye London Hello Paris

Today started a little frustrating because we were going to meet at my apartment in the morning but I gave Liz and Joe bad instructions and some of the Tube lines were under construction so they got a little lost but we finally found each other and started our day.

Our first stop was to take mine and Liz's backpacks to a friends house to store while we went on the rest of our travels so that we didn't have to haul around a bunch of stuff that we didn't need. Well it took a really long time because all of the closures on the tube lines but we finally dropped off our bags and made our way to the Tower of London.

The Tower of London was fun because we got to go on the tour which I didn't get to do last time because I was with a school group. We saw the crown jewels and did basically what I did last time I went. On our way out I got roasted peanuts which were amazing.

After that we went to the Train Station where we were going to catch the train to Paris. We got there early enough to go get some food and we decided to go to this Chinese place. Well we had enough time to get the food but we had to get it to go. It was really a pain because it was dripping everywhere but then we ate it on the train and it tasted really really good. Maybe we were just really hungry.

The train ride was really nice. It was like being on an airplane except you don't have to take off or land. It also felt like it went pretty fast. Once we got to Paris and came out of the tube where our hotel was supposed to be Liz said that I should look for the Eiffel tower because we were really close to it and should be able to see it. Well we couldn't see it and I was pretty disappointed but it was late and we were tired so we walked to the Hotel.

At the hotel the guy at the front desk was really nice and he said we had the best room in the hotel. Well unfortunately that meant it was on the top floor and the elevator was pretty scary. Joe affectionately called it a death trap! :)

Well once we climbed the stairs to our room it was pretty average until Liz called me onto the tiny balcony and I almost jumped off I was so excited because right there from our Balcony was the Eiffel tower. It was a really awesome moment for me because that was one of those things I had dreamed about since I was little and I was finally seeing it.

After drooling over it for a while we went back inside and realized I could see it from my bed! Bonus!! Then extra bonus the lights started twinkling on it! it was so cool and the perfect way to end my first night in Paris.

Wicked Day

Today was a wicked day, wicked weather, wicked awesome sites to see and a Wicked show.
We decided to meet in front of the Wicked theater in the morning because it was close to the tube station and close to Liz and Joes hotel. Well I got there before they did and so I was just sitting on the stairs waiting for them when some other people came and sat on the stairs too. It looked like they were forming a line so I asked them why they were getting in line and they said that the theater sells the very front row seats for a discounted price in the morning. So when Liz and Joe got there we decided to just stay in line and get tickets for the night. So it was pretty awesome planning to meet in front of the theater because we got really cheap tickets and they were for front row center.

After we got the tickets we walked over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. We got there early and got a good spot on the steps of the monument across from the gates. While we were waiting there was a man who had gotten on one of the statues and set up his camera to get a good video of the whole thing. Well apparently the police don't like when you sit on the statues because they asked him to get off and when he didn't a police office came over and got reallt mad att him. It was really funny because the cop was like "sir why didn't you get down when we told you to?" and to me Joe said "because I knew all you would do is to tell me to get off" it was really really funny and was referenced many other times on our trip after that. After that the changing of the guard started and it was pretty cool to see. I was glad we went because that wasn't something I had done before and it was neat to see. I was amazing what a big deal they make out of it and the fact that they do it every day. Well right when it was ending it started to rain. Now this was pretty weird because the whole time I was in London it had only rained two other times. Ironically one of those times was the other time I went to try and see the changing of the guard.

Well it didn't just rain to totally poured really really hard. It wasn't very fun because none of us had jackets or umbrellas and there were tons of people trying to leave too so the crowds were terrible. We stopped in a camping store for a while to get away from the crowds and see if it would stop raining so hard but it didn't so we decided to just go anyways.

Our next stop that day was the British museum. The first thing we did when we got there was eat our lunch. We were absolutely dripping wet which wasn't fun but at least we were inside. So we saw all the cool stuff in the museum and Liz and I went into the bathroom and dried our shirts in the hand dryers. It was pretty funny but worked.

After the museum we went back to my flat to have dinner. We had pasta, of course, it's pretty much what I always had when I cooked for myself. And then we went to the show.

Wicked was amazing. Just the fact that we were sitting front row center is an experience that I will probably never have again. We were so close we were getting spit on by the actors, it was awesome! :) Liz and Joe had never seen it so that was fun and even though I had seen it before it was still so awesome. It was a wicked awesome end to a wicked day!

The Last and The First

Today was the last day of our Study Abroad and the first day of being with Liz and Joe. The girls and I decided that the best way to end our time in London was by having tea in Hyde Park one last time.

Well we didn't have tea but we did have amazingly good cake. It was a perfect way to end the London experience.

After tea with the girls I took the train to the airport to pick up Liz and Joe. I got there pretty early but then it got closer to the time they were suppose to arrive and I started watching the arrivals door like a hawk. Well one hour went by and I started getting really nervous, I thought I might of missed them but then about 20 more minutes and I saw them. It was really exciting to see them.

So the first thing we did was go to their hotel and drop off their stuff. I felt pretty silly because I didn't know how to get to their hotel and I had been living in that city for 6 weeks. Well we finally found it and then we decided to go to dinner at the Thai place I really liked near my house.

We decided to get Gelato at my favorite place and as we walked to it we saw a fox. A fox in the middle of the city, what were the chances. It was pretty late at this point but we went and saw Big Ben and the London Eye and Westminster Abby just like I did on the first night I was in London. It was really fun and it was a long day.

A tourist one last time.

My brother told me the other day a statistic about how something like 80% of all blog posts start with the word SO. Then he went to my blog to see if it was true and it wasn't. 80% of my blogs didn't start with the word so, 100% of my blogs did. So.....I've decided to not start another blog with the word so.

Today we had our last "touristy" trip as a study abroad group. We went to Hampton Court which was basically the party castle for King Henry the VIII. It was a beautiful place but we were all pretty castle-ed out by this point. We got to listen to an audio tour which I really liked but every one was pretty long so it got a little boring.
excited about listening.

about an hour later, less excited.

The room I liked the best was the kitchen. One cool thing I learned was that they use to cook tons and tons of meat pies but not to eat them as meat pies but just to use the crust as a baking dish. People would just pull off the top and eat the inside like a bowl.

The other interesting thing was that different parts of the building were decorated during times with different wives and you could tell which wife decorated which room because her initials would be used in the decorations.
this bed was awesome.
So after walking around there for a while we decided to go get Rasa Express for lunch. It was really good.

Later that night we decided to go get Gelato one last time. I took all pence I had to use it up so I wouldn't have any left when I when home. When I went to pay the guy didn't want to take it, he would rather of given it to me free then take all my change but I made him take it because I really didn't want it. It was pretty funny.