Maymester in Oxford

I finally went to Paris!

Friday morning I got up at 4 a.m. and finished packing my bags. We then trekked to the bus station in the rain lugging our suitcases behind, then had to sprint to the ATM before the bus left us. It was an hour and a half ride into London where we boarded the Underground, took it to Canning Town, got on the shuttle bus and finally ended up at London City Airport. OK, so no one has really ever heard of London City airport. We had no idea where we were going or what to expect, but it was a nice small, business traveler-oriented airport. The people at the counter were very nice and put us in seats all together. After an hour flight, we made it through customs, changed out money and then had to find the train station. That only took about 45 minutes. Once we found it, we waited in line for another 30 minutes to buy our round trip tickets that we got charged 7 times too much for. We finally got on the train/metro and rode it into Paris. We then had to change lines two times. Each time, the station did not have escalators and all luggage had to be carried up numerous flights of steps. We finally arrived at our hotel around 3:30 in the afternoon. We laid down and slept until 5. I think everybody was out pretty cold. I know I drooled. Then we got up and went on a walk through Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower which was amazing!! I was awe struck. I have been wanting to see that tower since middle school. There is even still a poster on the bedroom wall at my parents' house that has a picture of it and says I Love Paris. I made it in 8th grade. We had dinner at a fancy little cafe. I was short on cash because I hadn't found an ATM yet and so I had crepes (there was some food waiting for me back at the hotel). They were so good! We then walked around the area some more and got to watch the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle across the river at sunset. The next morning, we got up fairly early and began our day. We bought passes that let us in to almost all of the museums and monuments around Paris. We hit the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Pantheon and the Arc De Triomphe. Oh, it was amazing! I saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. The originals! I also saw so many more famous paintings, some huge and some little. Notre Dame was beautiful and they were having some special service while we walked around. The Pantheon didn't have much, but there was an amazing sculpture and a pendulum clock. The Arc was a lot of stairs, but the view from the top was worth it. We also got to see a military band parade and parts of the ceremony for the unknown soldier. We then had dinner at a cafe with the best ham and cheese sandwiches ever! Then we camped out on the lawn behind the Eiffel Tower and made some new friends from the states and watched the sunset on the Tower. It was gorgeous! I will have pictures soon. I also had the world's largest stick of cotton candy...mmmm! Then we headed back to the hotel and it was time for bed. On Sunday, we got up and headed to Sacre Cuere (I'm not really sure how to spell it) which is the church on the hill. It was very beautiful. After some time there, we headed to the markets and did a little souvenier shopping. After running around so much on Saturday, we needed a little break. Then we headed over to the Moulin Rouge to take pictures of it. It was rather unimpressive in my opinion. We were going to sit out at the Eiffel Tower and relax again, but it began to rain, so we headed to dinner. I had the best quiche ever and creme broule for desert!! I splurged, but it was worth it. It was still rainy after that, so we went back to the hotel. On Monday, we got up packed, checked out, did a little bit of shopping (I bought shoes!!!) and then started on the long journey back to Oxford. We got home around 9:30 p.m. On Tuesday, we had to get up early for a class excursion to Bath. In that town is an ancient Roman bath house, hence the name Bath. It was really, really neat. After some lunch and looking around the Abbey there, it was time to head to Avebury. Avebury had some ancient rocks, similar to Stonehenge only not. We're really not sure anything about it except it had rocks placed by Druids in a circle. There were a lot of sheep that made the field a virtual land mine to walk across. Finally we returned back to Oxford where it was time to study for our test this morning. Now it's over. Time to take a shower and get ready for a full day of class. Hope this catches you up some. I went to Paris with Missy, Danielle, McKenzie, Shannon and Jansen.

rvw

posted by Tori Watson @ 1:21 AM