London and Paris

Okay, so you wanna know what it was like in London and Paris?
First of all, yes I missed my babies so. I was so weepy before I got on the plane in Providence the Wednesday morning I left (Oct 3rd) but once I got to D.C., switched planes, made a few goodbye phone calls to some friends and got all comfy on the plane, I was okay. But it was the shortest day of my life. In seven hours or so it went from 6 a.m. to 10 something at night. Crazy. When I got to Heathrow, I took a train to Paddington Station and then met Matt off that and took the Tube onto Gloucester Road in Kensington (it’s all so British sounding!). That seemed to take forever and when I finally stepped up into the world of the living on a street in London, I almost didn’t realize where I was. I looked up, Matt was smiling at me like, “You’re here! What do you think?” I stopped, took a look around and there I was. Finally. In London! The streets were tiny and most of the cars were very different from what we’re used to and, of course, they drove on the other side of the road. It was such a buzz of activity at 11:00 at night. The first cab that I saw drive by me had “Stella McCartney” advertised across the side. The cabs are these cute little black cars, kind of like big Cooper Minis, with little round headlights. Very cute!
Once I saw my hotel room, I HAD to go out and just look around, so how did I celebrate my quest into London? I went to the pub across the street and got a beer! Of course. At the pubs in London, you go in and order what you want and then they bring the food to the table and everyone drinks outside the pubs, on the street. It’s so funny to see that, although I got used to it by the end. Then we went to the Tesco next door—Tesco is a supermarket chain that you end up seeing everywhere in the city—and got some crisps (chips) and water.


Thursday we took the Tube to Westminster and saw Big Ben and walked around a bit. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum where I got my picture taken with many stars (sigh). I strongly recommend going there if you’re in NYC! It’s really funny to see the celebrities in wax. For most of them, it’s pretty lifelike, down to the Britney dancing on a pole, her chest heaving. Soory, I didn’t get a picture of that!
Then we went to the Globe and got beer and fish and chips (why not) and then walked around a bit more, ending up on The London Eye. That was amazing because we could see all (or most) of London. It’s a half-hour ride, very slow and you can take pictures from all angles and walk around in it. Normally I hate ferris wheel type things but this was awesome! And then after that, we went to the world famous Harrod's.
On Friday we took the Eurostar into Paris. That was about a three-hour ride (which happened to be nasty smelly only because of the lady that sat in front of us—a lot of people there of certain nationalities don’t wash. Yuck. So our car on the train stank right where we were sitting. It was so disconcerting and making me sick that I had to leave that car and walk around a bit. When we pulled into the station in Paris, I was a little surprised at how filthy it was. I had heard warnings about Paris (the French not liking Americans, it being a little dirty), but I was surprised. Still, I was in Paris! We found our hotel, down a tiny street, through all kinds of open markets. Everyone sits outside and eats and drinks (I think they eat—I didn’t feel full once in Paris) and there’s so much activity. There are tiny streets and tall buildings, hotels, apartments, etc. It was extremely European, exactly like what you would expect. We took the Metro over to the The Eiffel Tower. That was beyond amazing to me. I was standing underneath it thinking, I cannot believe I’m right under the Eiffel Tower. We got a ton of pictures of it and then went up inside it, to all three decks. By the time we got to the top, it was twilight and then quickly dark but you could see the whole city from all angles. It was just beautiful. We happened to be on the Tower while it was doing its ten-minute light show at the top of the hour. I wish I had seen it from the street but it was a truly cool experience seeing that while I was on it. One funny thing from being up there was seeing other people take pictures of the view. They would be sticking their cameras through the safety fencing to take the pictures, though. It made me a little nervous and wondered how many people have lost cameras that way.
Hmm, let’s see, what else?
Our Paris hotel room was a little less than lovely (imagine two twin beds pushed together, making what the French must call a Double—different than what I would think). But the little courtyard that the iron-fronted windows looked out onto was cute enough. Very European.
Saturday took us to Notre Dame (we didn’t go inside but got some incredible pictures outside) and some lovely French faire—a lunch of baguette with cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and a sparkling water. Light, but, oh well. That’s pretty much what you would find everywhere there. We made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe where you could stand at a specific place in the middle of the road and take pictures of it. Then we crossed the huge roundabout by walking underground through a tunnel which was a little bit novel. We went to the top of the structure by way of oh…500 steps or something like that. We had to stop halfway to use the loo. The view from the top of the Arc was magnificent. I mean, you usually don’t stand at the top of an ancient building and get a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. One really amazing thing I remember from being up there was looking out on Paris and seeing all these beautiful old buildings and then in the distance there was a huge panoramic of brand new office buildings. It was such a clash of interests, such a contradiction, so much that it was enjoyable just to look at.
Then we went for a little snack (crepes) and then over to the Louvre . Got some nice pictures there. Obviously this is not something that intrigues me but I was pretty tired at this point, after trekking across the city. With sore feet.
The next day we took the Eurostar back to London where they spoke English (never thought I would miss a language I understood). The train smelled a lot nicer on the way back.
We went on The Big Bus Tour of London on Monday (we were on the top of the open double-decker bus) and saw Royal Albert Hall, Notting Hill, Kensington Palace, Picadilly Circus and the place where J.M. Barry lived (the man who created Peter Pan), with a statue of The Boy Who Never Grew Up in the center of the town. We saw the Houses of Parliament, the Thames (pronounced “Tems”) (of course), many many historical places throughout the city, learning interesting little things about history in London like the Great Fire, the Influenza. We also saw Trafalger Square and so much more. We stopped at the Tower of London (also known asThe Bloody Tower) and took a tour given by one of the Yeoman Warders or more commonly known as Beefeaters (funny guy who gave our tour). That place had some grisly stories and a lot of history! There was a guard dressed in the expected guard uniform who changed his gun position every few minutes and he was not much older than maybe sixteen although he looked more like he was twelve. He made me a little nervous because he just stared straight ahead and was SO serious. Matt insisted I get a picture with him.
After the tour, we walked right out into the view of the Tower Bridge). What can I say about that? It’s so cool and that’s London to most people, that bridge. It was just beautiful. Then we took the Big Bus Tour back and saw all the nicer buildings where some billionaires lived, near Buckingham Palace. We did drive by the Palace but it was surprisingly plunked down in the middle of the city and not very impressive—at least just by driving by. We didn’t have time to walk around it and get pictures.
So that’s my version of the vacation but the pictures will tell a lot more.
I have to say, it was definitely a much needed getaway but I am so happy for modern technology so I could see and talk to my girls every day (except Friday and Saturday when we were in Paris). (This is my commercial for Skype.)
One of the hardest parts of it was Tuesday when we were leaving. I knew we still had hours and hours ahead of us before we even got into Washington D.C. and then we would have to wait for our flight to Providence, so I was a little anxious about not being able to see the kids for awhile.
I was happy to get home and see their little faces and hold them again. I think they were just as happy to see me. We got home at midnight and I went up and woke them up for kisses.
There was so much more but it’s hard to put in every detail. It was a very interesting, yet whirlwind trip. There was so much to see so just 6 days there made it kind of crazy and not super relaxing but it was fun!

Go here to see some pics. I will be adding more soon.