Last Days in London :(

Day 10 (Friday, June 1st)

Friday was our first day where we had absolutely no plans at all! Shannon and I spent the morning shopping at some boutiques near Jeanne's home. 

Later that afternoon we went shopping for our dinner ingredients. We were making dinner for Jeanne's neighbor and us :) Shannon and I had to go shopping at an oriental store to get the ingredients we needed for our Asian dish. That was an experience!

Funny story (at least Shannon and I thought it was hilarious). We were walking through Jeanne's park and I was saying how sad it was that some people didn't appreciate nature...they were missing out. As soon as I said that, I stopped and bent down to grab a four-leaf clover and I got stung on my big toe by something! It hurt and my toe went numb for 5 minutes! Oh, the irony :)

Dinner was delicious and it was fun getting to know her neighbor, Myles, who was super nice and funny!

 Making dinner

Shannon's lovely dessert creation!

Day 11 (Saturday, June 2nd)

Saturday we went to the Portebello Market where I bought 2 really old books! I am a nerd, I know, but they are awesome.

Oxford Street all decorated for the Queen's jubilee!

Later that night we went to The Mayflower (a pub, haha) and Shannon and I finally got to try the classic fish and chips! We also got to meet some of Jeanne's friends which was fun.

Day 12 (Sunday, June 3rd)

Sunday was Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee!! And London had gone back to its typical cold and rainy weather just in time for it. There were going to be 1,000 boats going down the River Thames and the Queen was on one of them. 

 

We got to the river at noon and had to wait until after 3 p.m. for the boats to start passing by us. There were so many people everywhere that we couldn't really see the river. I did see some of the boats and we were there when the Queen's boat passed, although I couldn't see it or her haha.

After she passed, we went to Jeanne's friend, Carita's, home to watch the boats from there. She lives on the river and has a balcony overlooking it! It was an awesome spot. We saw most of the boats, but the Queen didn't pass there because she got off at Tower Bridge. It was still fun to be there and see all of the boats. It was such a great experience...I am glad we were there for such a historic moment in Britain!

(photo credit to Jeanne's friend, Hannu)

 (photo credit to Hannu)

(photo credit to Hannu)

The Queen's boat! (without her on it)

Day 13 (Monday, June 4th) Our last day :(

We went to Camden Market for awhile, shopped, and then later packed to go home.

We were sad :'(

 

 For dinner, Shannon, Jeanne, and I ate at a restaurant near Tower Bridge. It is so pretty!

 Double Rainbow!!

Walking along the river

After dinner we went to Hyde Park where the Queen's jubilee celebration was still going strong. There were tons of people in the park watching screens that were displaying the concert happening at Buckingham Palace.

 The Park

(photo credit to Hannu)

Creepy eyeballs in the trees

(photo credit to Hannu)

It was very entertaining to be at the park. The Brits were all drinking, smoking, and dancing haha. It was kind of like the 4th of July, in a way. We got to see the fireworks live from Buckingham Palace! That was so cool.

After being at the park we walked back to Tower Bridge to see it all lit up at night.

It was so pretty!

Day 14 (Tuesday, June 5th) Going home...

Our flight was supposed to leave today at 12:30 p.m. However, Jeanne woke us up at 3:30 on Tuesday to tell us our flight had filled up and we needed to catch the 9:30 a.m. flight to Detroit and then change there for Minneapolis. 

On the train at 5 in the morning London time

On the bright side: we got to fly first class! It was soooo much nicer than the economy seats. I was actually able to sleep for 5 hours! The chairs reclined a lot and have built in massagers, we got fluffy pillows and thick blankets. We also got a pre-breakfast, breakfast, and lunch. I was so full! While I was sleeping, Shannon also got warm chocolate chip cookies and milk!

Detroit. Photo taken at 8 p.m. London time

We got stuck in Detroit and were pretty sure we were not going to be going home that night. Oh, the joys of flying standby. We landed in Detroit at 11:30. Didn't get on the 3:30 flight. Didn't get on the 5:30 flight. My mom got us a room in a hotel but told us to stay for the 7:30 flight even though it was overbooked and we probably wouldn't get on. But we did! Only through a miracle by God were we able to get home that night.

Landed in Minneapolis at 2 a.m. London time

I had an absolute blast during my stay in London! It was so  much fun being in our little routine of eating breakfast, touring, eating dinner, making plans for the next day, and then going to bed. I loved staying with Jeanne, talking with her and getting to know her. She was so generous to us and she made London really fun! I also loved traveling and touring with Shannon! It was fun spending so much time with her! It was also super cool to be at the Queen's Jubilee while everyone else was just watching it on TV. I feel so blessed to have had this amazing experience in London and to be able to share it with one of my best friends! 

I can't wait until next time I get to travel :)

Days 7-9

Day 7 (Tuesday, May 29th)

Tuesday we went to the Tower of London. It was so cool to see the Crown Jewels! There is so much history there...there is so much history in all of London, really. We got to see the crown that the Queen wore for her jubilee! 

Crappy picture, I know. But you get the idea.

We had our Muggle tour of London after that! It was a 2 hour tour and it was so much fun! Not only did our tour guide take us to places where parts of Harry Potter were filmed, we also saw places that inspired J.K. Rowling and learned lots of other London history facts.

 Our super nice tour guide :)

 Headed to Hogwarts, baby!

We went and saw Jeanne's awesome office space, went grocery shopping, and we got to ride in Jeanne's car for the first time! It was weird sitting in the driver's seat but not driving haha.


After dinner, Shannon and I really wanted chocolate so we walked through the park in our pajamas to go to the grocery store. Fun times!

Day 8 (Wednesday, May 30th)

On Wednesday we went to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It was so cool to be standing in the place where William and Kate got married a year ago! There were also many famous people buried there, so that was really cool too.

 YAY!

 Big Ben!

 Westminster Abbey!

LOVE!


Day 9 (Thursday, May 31st)


We went to the British museum on Thursday. We were kind of 'museum-ed' out though so we didn't stay there too long. We did see some of the gold medals they are using for the Olympics this year though!

Shannon and I also got to go to the Royal Opera House and see the opera Salome. It was good...interesting, but good haha.

It was so pretty!

On the way to the opera house we stopped at the red carpet for Prometheus. It is cool to say I have been to a red carpet, but we didn't see much and didn't stay for very long :) oh well!

Days 4-6: in Paris!

I am here to tell you all that no, I did not fall of the face of the earth :) But I am officially home now, which means I have time to finally update you on everything Shannon and I did while we were in Europe! We will start first with our time in Paris!

Day 4 (Saturday, May 26th) was a very long, but super fun, day. We didn't go to Paris until the evening. Jeanne, Shannon, and I woke up early and went to the Borough Market, a food market that has been around for a long time.

We stopped for coffee and pastries before heading to the market.

 "Food Glorious Food" is a song in Ice Age 2...so this chair made me smile

 We bought really good cheese in this legit dairy store

BEST WATERMELON EVER!

We walked around the whole market and ended up buying some bread, cheese, fruit, and vegetables. The market was awesome and there were so many different types of fresh food to choose from. I would definitely go there all the time if I lived in London :)


After we were done at the market, Shannon and I went to a cafe to drink coffee and do some journaling.

After that, Shannon and I went in search of John Sandoe bookstore. We didn't exactly know where we were at one point and Shannon decided we needed to ask someone for help. So we asked this guy who looked like a book reader haha. He said he was really sorry he couldn't help us because he wasn't sure where the bookstore was either. The advice he gave us: "ask someone who looks richer than me" because he thought they would know the area better! That made us laugh, because he didn't look unwealthy. We wandered up the street after that and it ended up being right there! Pretty lucky.

All these books made me happy! I bought a book by C.S. Lewis there :)

After our trip to the bookstore we went back to Jeanne's, packed, and headed for the Eurostar that would take us to Paris.


We got to Paris around 10:00 pm. but couldn't find our hotel right away. We did witness drunk scary people and a man urinating on the street. Welcome to Paris, I guess. We finally found our hotel, put our suitcases in our tiny room, and then left to go see the Eiffel Tower.

 so pretty!

It was a long day but I accomplished three things on my bucket list!: Visit Paris, see the Eiffel Tower, and ride on a train!


Day 5 (Sunday, May 27th)
On Sunday we ate breakfast at a little cafe, went to some of the shops near our hotel, and then went to the Louvre!

 listening to the audio guide tour of the Louvre...it was really confusing to work!

 outside of the Louvre, waiting in line to get in. It was SO busy!

The Mona Lisa had a very large mob of tourists in front of it

There she is!

We went to the Shakespeare & Company bookstore and Shannon got an old book. We also saw the Cathedral of Notre Dame from the outside. After that we went back to our hotel for a nap and then headed out again at 8:30 p.m. We went to the Eiffel Tower again so we could see the sparkling lights since we had missed it the night before and Shannon and I got nutella crepes that were sooo good!

We went out to eat a late dinner where Shannon and I ate duck! It actually tasted really good.

 My feet after walking around in flip-flops all day!

We got back to the hotel around 2 a.m. and climbed the 5 flights of stairs to our room. We were kind of loud. When we were in our room, the phone rang and I was closest so I had to answer it. Here was my conversation with the French hotel clerk:


Me: "Hello??"
FHC: "*french gibberish that I couldn't understand*"
Me:"....um what?"
FHC: (tiredly) "you come downstairs now"
Me: "Okay!" (hangs up phone)


We decided none of us could go downstairs alone (we were at a really sketch hotel in a really sketch neighborhood), but we also couldn't leave someone alone in the room. So we all went downstairs. It was really humorous to us, but that could have been because we were all really tired :) we got downstairs and the guy just hands us new bath towels. HA!

These were the stairs we got to climb every day!

Day 6 (Monday, May 28th)

We got to go inside the Cathedral of Notre Dame on Monday and it was so beautiful!

We ate lunch on a boat, walked around the area of St. Michel for awhile longer, then headed back to our hotel to get our bags and get back on the Eurostar to go home to London!

 There is a bridge where lovers put locks

Where we ate lunch

Our motto for the trip was YOLO which stands for "You Only Live Once" :) so we were happy when we found this on a bridge in Paris.

Overall, our trip to Paris was enjoyable. It was kind of expensive, but I am really glad we went because we had a ton of fun. I didn't really like the city of Paris though...it was too dirty for me and I didn't really feel safe. I was glad to go home to London :) like a friend of Jeanne's said: "Paris is a nice place to visit, but London is a nice place to live."