We'll always have Paris!

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been another few days since my last post. The last couple weeks have been busier for me- it is getting near the end of this 7 week term and the assignments and projects are building up now. The end of next week marks the end of the 3 classes I am currently taking and then for the following 4 weeks I will be taking 1 class (it meets 3 days a week) and going on my last few weekend trips before I return home! It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone by so far!

This last weekend was a lot of fun! Mike came to visit me from home and spent 5 days here in Europe. He flew in from Newark on Thursday morning and left Tuesday morning. It was really good to see a familiar face from home, and we had a great time exploring London and....PARIS! Yes, we went to Paris this weekend! I'm pretty impressed with our ability to plan a 2.5 day trip to another country considering we've been 4000 miles apart the last month and a half, but we did it and it was a fantastic trip! There are so many famous sites we wanted to see in the city so we decided to do a Hop On Hop Off 2 day bus tour of the city (basically, there are buses that run between the 9 most famous sites in London including Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysses, Trocadero, Musee D'Orsay, Musee du Louvre, Opera, the Grand Palais and Champs de Mars) and we also purchased 2 day unlimited metro passes. Both of these worked out great- we used the bus tour primarily just Saturday and then used the metro passes to get to where the tours started from our hostel. Paris was absolutely beautiful and we both had such a great time! I've heard people say before that Paris is overrated but I didn't think so; all of the famous sites were well worth seeing. My favorites were the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Here is an 'itinerary' of Mike's visit:

Thursday:
-Mike arrived at Heathrow around 9 am
-Went to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
-Ate lunch at Gloucester Arms pub
-Went to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, walked down the Thames River
-Mike walked around the river area while I took a tour of the National Theatre for one of my classes
-We went to the Globe Theatre to see "Love's Labours Lost" for my Shakespeare class
-Returned back to South Kensington to pack up for Paris


Friday:
-Left around 4 am to take a night bus to St. Pancras International rail station for our eurostar train
-Arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord station about 2.5 hours later
-After a little while of not knowing how to get to our hostel, we bought some maps and headed to Saint Ambroise station to the Hotel Garden (really a hostel)
-We dropped our things off and then headed to Notre Dame, where we toured the inside of the church
-Ate lunch at the Cafe de Quasimodo (ate some quiche lorraine, salad and a crepe!)
-Went back to the hostel to take a nap
-Went out at night to see the Eiffel Tower (it was pouring though so we got soaked!)
-Went to Le Coq for dinner at the Trocadero (ate cockerel casserole for the first time- described as "the cock that crows in the morning"..so basically a rooster?)
-Arc de Triomphe
-Took the metro back to the hostel to sleep

Saturday:
-Went to the Cite metro stop near Notre Dame to go to a patisserie for breakfast (I got a pain du chocolat which was delicious!) and then hopped on the sightseeing bus
-Took the bus to each of the following sites but did not go into the museums: Musee d'Orsay, Opera, Champs Elysees, Grand Palais and Trocadero
-Got off the bus at the Eiffel Tower where we stopped to have lunch! First, the elevator in the tower took us to the second floor where we could get out and walk around and soak up the views. Then we walked down staircases to the first floor of the tower to the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower where we ate lunch. I had a chicken caesar salad, macaroni with asparagus and mushrooms, and Mike got a chilled carrot soup, salmon and vegetables. We both had cheesecake for dessert. The view from our table was looking out over the plaza towards the Trocadero, and the food was great!
-Got back on the bus to go past the Champs de Mars and the Louvre
-Hopped on the metro to Jardins du Luxembourg and the Pantheon- really enjoyed the jardins and seeing Luxembourg palace!
-Went back to the Louvre to see the pyramids
-Went back to the hostel to change into fancier evening clothes and then went to the Champs Elysees for dinner at George V where I had duck and Mike had a burger I believe. Mike paid for the dinner which was really nice of him, and the food was very good. I don't think I remember a bad meal in Paris actually.
-Saw the Eiffel Tower one last time and then returned to our hostel to sleep

Sunday:
-Checked out of the hostel and headed back to Gare du Nord station where we took a train around 10 am back to London
-We arrived back in London around 11:30 am and dropped our things back off at the house I live in
-Ate lunch at High Street Kensington at Balans where I had my first full english breakfast
-Headed to Baker Street to see the Sherlock Holmes museum (didn't actually go on the tour)
-Went to Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square
-Walked around South Kensington
-Went to Piccadilly Circus at night to walk around and ate a a very good mexican restaurant in Leicester Square
-Went back to SK to sleep

Monday:
-Walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in the morning, and saw the Peter Pan statue!
-Mike explored the city while I had class from 12-4 and then we met back up to go on a walking tour for my Shakespeare class around Southwark
-Our walking tour ended at the George Inn pub (a historical pub dating back to the early 1600s)
-We took the tube to the Tower of London and then headed back along the south bank of the Thames river to Founders Arms to eat
-Went back to SK to sleep

Tuesday:
-Left SK around 6:30 am to take the tube to the London Heathrow airport
-Dropped Mike off at the terminal 4 station
-Came back to SK for my marketing class

That is a pretty abbreviated version of the weekend but it gives you an idea of the different sites we saw! I definitely recommend Paris to anyone (even Mike preferred Paris over London!) Since he left I've been trying to get some assignments finished and turned in. I have one class today from 1-4 pm and then a theatre performance of "Mother Courage" at the National Theatre tonight for my Contemporary British Theatre class. Two days ago was my roommate Catey's 21st birthday and we went out to celebrate at night for that. That is pretty much all that is new here in London!

I hope everyone is doing well! I'm officially half way finished my study abroad in London- another month and a half to go! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and being at home, but I will definitely miss London!

Cheers!