england & france: part four

Paris, France- the magical city. I had such a wonderful time here. I think I appreciate it more, now that I’m home. We stayed there a week, in two different apartments. The first, was actually the narrowest building in Paris. We went to about 500 museums full of priceless works of art. I got to see Mona Lisa, Monet, Renoir & many others. It was a little hard to take it all in after a while, so many masterpieces, and so little time to fully take them all in. Paris was everything that I thought it would be, but somehow, it wasn’t at all like how I thought it would be. It’s rather hard to explain it all, but I loved it anyways. :)

Next: {last post on our trip, I promise!} Back to England

Notre Dame. We stayed right by it- so awesome!

Shakespeare book store. They speak English! We were a 5 minute walk away.

Gargoyle.

Metro entrance.

Arc de Triumph memorial.

Emily & Mom enjoying a rest after walking all day.

Andd… It was time for a snack.

The graffiti/art was amazing.

How cool is this?

Not sure what this is. But I like the colors.

Apple tart. Yum.

Of course, the Eiffel Tower. One of my favorite parts.

I didn’t know it was brown. Go figure.

Yay! First level.

Adorbs. :)

We found this great juice at Bon Marche.

Cheers!

P.s Contrary to popular belief, not everyone there speaks English. So if you’re going there any time soon, you may want to brush up a bit on your French. :)

england & france: part three

So here we are in London, day two. Today we went with Arlene, Christian, Karl & Adam. First, we went to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It was really neat, my favorite part was the whispering gallery. I saw it on Rick Steve’s show, so I thought it was really cool to see it in person. Then, we got some M&S lunch. I wish they had Mark’s & Spencer’s here. Yum. Anyways, then we took the tube to the Sherlock Holm’s museum. It was a little cheesy, but cute none the less. Then my personal favorite of the day- the park/gardens. It was so beautiful. I loved all the roses- they had a million different kinds. We took the train home and Christian made us a true Scottish meal. I was brave and I tried everything, but I have to admit- some of it was a bit of a stretch. :)

Next up: Paris!

Starting the day right: Adam goofing off.

At the top of the cathedral. Fab view.

London.

Just to clarify here: I am short, but I usually don’t look that short. Compared to Karl, though, I am dwarfed. :)

From l to r: Emily, Arlene, Christian, Karl, Me

At the Sherlock museum.

No description needed.

At the gardens.

My lovely mother. :)

We’re a little goofy.

Mom & Arlene

Please note the blue sky: this is not common. We enjoyed it.

Dinner is served: it was tasty. :)

xoxo

england & france: part two

I’m back! I’ve been pretty busy lately, so this is the first chance I’ve had to blog. Anywho, back to England. So, now we’re onto London. I have to say, London was probably the city we got to explore the least. I was torn between wanting to spend time with family and seeing the sites. I think we got a good mix of both, which is good (My Aunt Arlene, cousin Adam & cousins cousins Karl & Christian actually got to come with the next day). The first day, {of three} we went to museums, the London Eye, and I got some hot cocoa. (a must!) It was a great day for exploring this huge city. I loved London, but then again, I loved every city we went to. Okay, I love Europe.

Buckingham Palace.

Excited for our first day! Buckingham Palace.

The road in front of the palace. I loved all the flags.

This was such an awesome mural. It was really big, too. Who knew you could do that with plants?

British Museum. That is one old lion.

Big Ben. This is from the London Eye.

I don’t know what this is, but I thought it looked cool.

You can’t go to London without seeing a red double decker bus, can you?

Part 3 coming soon!

xoxo

england & france: part one

well, I’m home. it feels good to be back. I’ve been going though all the 3,000+ photos, to share with you all & it’s really hard to decide which ones to share! just to give you an overview of what we did, we arrived in London on Saturday morning and we spent the rest of the weekend with my aunt Arlene, uncle Ray, cousins Becca & William. my other cousin, Adam, who is from Florida, is staying with them for a few months was (and is) there too. Monday, we went to Bath. from there, we went to Stonehenge & Avebury & the Cotswolds. it was such a sweet city, and the b&b’s we stayed at were wonderful! Friday, we took the train back “home” to Bundanoon, my uncle & aunts house. {which is located just outside of London}. we stayed there for over a week exploring London & the towns there. then, we went to Paris. oh, Paris. it was everything I thought it would be. we actually stayed a few nights in the narrowest building in the whole city! {it’s in guidebooks & everything!} we went to so many museums filled with so many masterpieces {including the Louvre, of course} that it was kind of hard to mentally think about it all after a while. we climbed to the 2nd level of the Eiffel tower & did lots of other things. we rode back to england on the Euro Star train & spent our last two days at Bundanoon. over all, I would do it again. I had such a great time, I would only change one thing: I wish I had eaten better. (i normally do eat good, it was just being on vaca that threw me off) I know it was vacation, but I was so tired all the time! it really changes how much energy you have, so I think by the time we made it to Paris, my body was getting quite tired out. so, my advice is, eat protein for breakfast! lunch & dinner isn’t such a big deal, but breakfast is.

anywho, this is just part one, so on to the photos! cheers!

goodbye, america

excited, excited, excited. that pretty much sums up what i’m feeling right now. i’m so excited to fly on an airplane, to touch down in london & to see and stay with my family who i either don’t remember, or have’t seen in a long time. then, i’m going to bath and after that- the fashion empire, paris. for a whole week. of course, i will miss my daddy & brother & little yappy dogs a lot {lacey, theo [who is doing a little better today! thank goodness!!] & millie}, but this is the trip of a lifetime. yay!

my dad pointed this sunset out to me a while back- i finally uploaded it. so gorgeous!

lately we’ve been having wonderful sunny, if not very windy weather. love.

i’ll post when i get back!

xoxo