Stonehenge, Paris, and More

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend, full of lots of traveling, lots of walking, and a lot of sightseeing.

Friday, 8 June 2012

Stonehenge

Friday morning, we got up early and headed out as a group to Salisbury, which is the town closest to the site of Stonehenge. Once there, we boarded a bus, which drove us up to Stonehenge. It was already pretty windy when we left London, but Stonehenge, because it is on a hill, was even windier. I had a hard time walking around without being blown over! Despite the wind and the cold, it was really cool to see the stones in person. There’s something mysterious about Stonehenge because no one knows for sure what the stones were used for and how exactly they got there. After finishing at Stonehenge, we got on a bus that took us back down into Salisbury. Salisbury is the home of Salisbury Cathedral, which has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom. Because the church was built in the medieval era, the architecture was, of course, beautiful.

Trip to Paris (Saturday, 9 June 2012 – Sunday, 10 June 2012)

After Salisbury, we caught a train back to London, packed some clothes in a backpack, and then headed to the Victoria Coach Station, where we boarded a bus to Paris. The bus ride was interesting, to say the least. Our bus driver wasn’t the best – he couldn’t speak English (or French, which might have been semi-helpful since a lot of the people on the bus were French), so we didn’t really ever know what was going on. Luckily, a nice woman next to us took pity on us and told us what was going on and what to do. I didn’t really get a lot of sleep – I don’t sleep well on busses, and every time I fell asleep, something woke me up. We were also late for our ferry, so we had to wait an extra three hours before we were able to get on another ferry. As a result, we got to Paris several hours after we were supposed to. But we got there in one piece, and that’s all that really matters.

Arc de Triomphe 

Sacré-Coeur

Once in Paris, we tried to check into our hotel, but they wouldn’t let us check-in until three o’clock, so we strapped on our backpacks and headed out into the city. The first place we went was the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, which was right by our hotel. We hiked up the hill to the basilica. The hill is one of the higher points in Paris, so we were able to get a good view of the city. After the Sacré-Cœur, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc is in the middle of a very large roundabout, so we had to go through a tunnel which ran under the street to get there. It was a good thing that the tunnel was there because French drivers are crazy. There were no lanes, no lights, nothing to help regulate traffic. People drove fast and merged at a whim, yet amazingly, there were no accidents, not even a close call. We spent some time walking around the Arc before a few of us headed up to the top. Unfortunately, the lifts were out of order, so we had to walk up the stairs. Once at the top of the Arc, I had another fabulous view of the city, including the Eiffel Tower. Following our climb up the Arc, the group headed to the Seine River, where we took a river tour, which included views of the Louvre, Notre Dame, and other famous buildings around the city. The only bad thing was that it began to rain during the very end of the tour. After our tour, we were finally able to head back to our hotel and check-in, which meant that we were able to drop off our backpacks. After that, we headed out to dinner and ate at a little bistro near the Eiffel Tower. Once we were done with dinner, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and got to see it all lit up. We even waited until the hour so that we could see it “sparkle.” It was absolutely stunning – I’m sure the Eiffel Tower is why Paris is known as the city of lights.

The Eiffel Tower at night

The Louvre

The next day, we woke up really early so that we could get to the Eiffel Tower before there was a crowd. We had to wait around an hour and half before the tower opened, but it was definitely worth it because the line was absolutely horrendous – it was stretched all around the base of the tower. Finally, the tower opened around 9:30 and we were able to buy tickets to ride the elevator to the very top. Though I’d already seen the city from high points twice, the view from the Eiffel Tower was really cool – I could see everything. After coming down from the Tower, we headed over the Louvre. We were supposed to go to the Louvre the morning prior, but we weren’t able to because our bus was so late. Consequently, we were forced to rush through the museum because we wanted to get to Notre Dame on time. However, we were still able to see the big things: the Mona Lisa, Hammurabi’s Code, the Winged Nike, and more. Despite rushing through the Louvre, it was still a great experience. 

Notre Dame

After the Louvre, we headed over to Notre Dame, where we climbed up the stairs to the very top. We even got to see one of the bells. After climbing up there, we got to come down, and Mass was going on since it was Sunday, so I was able to experience some of Catholic Mass in French, which was interesting, considering I’m not Catholic and I don’t speak French. After Notre Dame, we ended up near the Moulin Rouge so we could take pictures. By then, it was time to eat, so we went to a nice French restaurant where I tried escargot – it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! After dinner, we headed back to the bus station where we boarded our bus to return to London. We had a different driver, so the return trip was uneventful and actually kind of pleasant.

Monday, 11 June 2012

We got back to London around 6:30 and made it back to the college around 7:00. My class wasn’t until 2:00, so I promptly crawled into bed – the moment my head touched the pillow, I was asleep until my alarm went off. Before class, a few friends and I headed to the box office to get tickets for Sweeney Todd. We were able to get decent seats for only £25. So after class, we headed out to the theatre. The show was absolutely incredible – Imelda Staunton (the woman who played Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies) was hilarious Mrs. Lovett and Michael Ball (who is a West End legend) was fantastically creepy as Sweeney Todd. Even though it was raining after the show, we decided to go stand out in the rain so that we could meet the actors. It was totally worth it – they were so nice and signed our programs.

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Golden State Coach

After class today, my roommate and I headed out to Buckingham Palace to see the Royal Mews. The Mews are the Royal stables where the Queen’s horses and various carriages are housed. It was really interesting to see how all of that worked – many of the staff lives on site with their families. We only got to see four of the horses, but they were magnificent – so big and majestic. We also got to see a lot of the carriages that the Queen uses, including the Glass Carriage (the carriage Diana rode in to her wedding), the Australian State Carriage (which is the most modern of the fleet, being only twenty odd years old, and had amenities such as heating, air conditioning, and electric windows), and the Golden State Coach (which has been used in such events as the Queen’s coronation and her Golden Jubilee). I can’t even believe that I saw those carriages in real life.

After the Royal Mews, we headed over to Harrods, which was really close and we wanted to go. The place is huge. And really expensive. The first thing we saw when we walked in was room after room of expensive, designer handbags. Then we continued into room upon room of expensive watches. We wandered around for a while and got lost, but we finally found the room with the “cheap” souvenirs. I bought a really cute bear that has a Union Jack tshirt and “Harrods” across the front. After we decided that we couldn’t afford anything else in the store, we headed back to the college. All in all, it was an eventful day.