London, Paris

4/14/09
Day 89-96

First off:
. Happy belated birthday to Lindsey, Rachel, and Josh!

Not much really happens at school so that’s why my updates don’t come as often. Last weekend, Bari, Caitlin, and I went to London and Paris. We had a long weekend as we were off for Easter Monday as well (I’m convinced that people only take off for Easter Monday because they ate too much chocolate and were on the toilet the whole night before and were not in the mood to go to work or school. So I will start with Thursday after school since this trip was intense and a hot mess.

Thursday: Left school a bit early and went home to drop stuff off. Bari and I took the bus to San Marco like we usually do and planned on switching to the other bus that takes us to the station. Well, that bus did not come, and then when we tried to get a cab, we found out that one of the main streets was closed, and that there was so much traffic that it wouldn’t have even been worth it for us to take a cab to the train station. We legit booked it from San Marco to the station. I can’t even explain how fast we walked, or how we made it all the way to the station in 10 minutes. Caitlin, on the other hand, had to take a cab because of where she lives. Her driver got stuck in traffic AND hit another car. She was in a hurry and the driver STILL got out to yell at the guy who he hit. We were so surprised that we made it to the train station in time to catch the bus that was to take us to Pisa airport.

So we get to Pisa airport and thus begun our experience with RyanAir. First of all, if you are not a citizen of the European Union, you have to pay an extra fee to check in, on top of ticketing fees, etc. Then, the flight was delayed about two hours. We finally got to our friend’s apartment in London at 3 am.

Friday: We got up early the next day and decided to take one of those double decker red tour busses around the city. Best idea that we had. We took a bus that had live commentary and that we were able to get on and off of as we pleased. We got to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, the Tower of London, and in general, a tour through the streets of London. It was so much fun! We ate fish and chips in our attempt to eat something that could be described as English cuisine while still being Kosher. (No bangers and mash, sorry jess!)

Saturday: We went to Harrods and I got sushi there. I did not get to see Cameron and I did not get to go to the magical place where sushi is served to you on conveyor belts. I did find out that it is called Yo Sushi and its across the street from Harrod’s, so if I’m ever back in London, I will be there. It’s on like donkey kong celine dion. We tried to go into Westminster Abbey, but it closed right before we got to the doors. After that, we headed to the airport and were on our way to Paris. We got to Paris that night and found out that the hostel that we had book was the most disgusting thing ever. We ended up switching to a hotel because there was no way that we could have stayed at that place. Ew.

Sunday: Big day in Paris for us. We first went to the Eiffel Tower and stood in line for an hour or so and then went up to the second floor of the tower. It was really cool and amazing. The view of Paris was breathtaking! After that, we went to the Arc D’ Triumph, the Champs d’elysses, and the Louvre. The Louvre is HUGE. You would not believe how much there was in there. WE did get to see everything that we wanted to, including the Mona Lisa, the Venus De Milo, Hammarabi’s code, Winged Victory, Ramses Tomb, and the dying slave. It took us about three or four hours to get through it, but it was so worth it. After the Louvre, we went to the San Michele area, and Notre Dame. We met one of Bari’s friends there, as well as my friend Terry from home. We all hung out that night and went to dinner where Caitlin, Terry, and I tried escargot. Yes, snails, and they were good!!!

Monday: More of Paris. We tried to go to the Orsay Museum, but it was closed, so we ended up going back to the Louvre to look at the garden, and then to relax on the lawns near the Eiffel tower. We ate lunch and then headed back to the airport to come home.

The whole trip really was a hot mess of running and rushing around. I love seeing these places, but I’m in need of a real vacation where I don’t have to rush places and where I don’t have tons of school work to do.

Just two and a half weeks left of the semester. It’s so hard to believe, and its been such an amazing experience, but I’m definitely ready to see my friends and family again.

For those of you who did not know, I had a second interview with the company in Dallas last Tuesday. I am hoping that it went well, but I have no idea when I will hear anything back.