The end of the month was finally here! Friday morning after sitting through two classes I met up with four friends from Dickinson who were in Copenhagen for a crazy concert on Saturday night. We were able to tour around Copenhagen and I showed them all the cool parts of the city before we headed out for another great dinner at Stella's Cafe with Liz, Eileen, and some of their friends from Wake Forest who were here for Sensation White, also. Our night was a ton of fun and they were able to get a taste of the Danish nightlife.
Even though I was only able to get a few hours of sleep because of excitement, Saturday morning arrived, which meant Tyler was here! I met him at the airport and was so excited that my two week vacation had officially started! We took it really easy all day Saturday and went to a surprise birthday party for my host mom, Annette, that night. We quickly learned that night how much Danish people can drink, and let me tell you it is WAY more than I can handle. It was so much fun to spend time with the Klausen's friends and family, celebrate Annette's 50th birthday, try to sing songs in Danish, and truly understand the meaning of Danish hygge all with Tyler!
Sunday was filled with touristy things and meeting up with my friends who were still in town and introducing Tyler to my friends who I go to school with here. We had to make a stop at Agnes Cupcakes to show everyone a little piece of heaven, and they were all happy we made that little trip! Afterwards it was time for my Dickinson friends to head back to Norwich, England where they are studying. I was so glad I had the chance to see them and show them around Copenhagen, even though it was a short stay.
Monday morning started off right with a run around my favorite park before we headed off to the airport for our trip to Paris and London for the week! My first experience on EasyJet was a good one, even though the whole no seat assignment, only travel with a really small bag, complete chaos thing was a little overwhelming. We made it to Paris without any problems and found our hotel. Let's just say it was not worth the price, but still good enough for little amount of time spent there. After throwing our bags in the room, we headed out to start exploring. The hotel was pretty close to Notre Dame, so taking a walk from our hotel to Notre Dame was no problem at all, not to mention really pretty!
We were in dire need of some food by the time we got to Notre Dame, so we found a cute little restaurant right down the street and had some delicious French onion soup and an omelet. Satisfied and interested in exploring a little more, Ty and I walked around the Notre Dame area and saw some strange looking people out and about, but I suppose it was acceptable seeing that it was Halloween and all!
Tuesday morning started with a trip to the Eiffel Tower! We found a great bakery a few blocks away from the Eiffel Tower, so of course we had to get a baguette and a chocolate croissant for breakfast/lunch. We also found a grocery store two stores down from the bakery where we were able to get some strawberry jam and orange juice. Our little picnic was complete and all that was left to do was enjoy it in front of the Eiffel Tower... or so we thought!
Two minutes into eating it started raining. It went from a drizzle to complete downpour way too fast; which did not give us much time to run and take cover. Neither of us were prepared with rain gear or even a coat to stay warm, so we had to hit up a little tourist shop and purchase a lovely Paris umbrella. Freezing cold and wet, we decided it would be a good idea to get inside and try to dry off/get warm for a bit. We walked from the Eiffel Tower all the way to Musee d'Orsay to see some famous paintings and get out of the rain. Thankfully all of Paris is beautiful, so even though we had to walk through the rain, the view the entire time was so pretty! We finally had made it to the museum, but there were a bunch of other people who had the same idea we did. We ended up standing huddled under our little umbrella for about an hour waiting to get in, and after getting to see all that I did, it was definitely worth the wait! Some of the painting we saw were from Van Gogh, Monet, and bunch of other ones whose names I can't remember.
After walking around the museum for what seemed like hours, we headed back towards the hotel and made a stop at Notre Dame again, but this time it was light out and we had the chance to go inside the church. The inside was absolutely beautiful. I loved all the side rooms that were along all the walls. I am sure it would be something really special to attend a mass there! Maybe next time (yes, there will be a next time for sure) I visit Paris I will go. We still had a lot of time to kill before we headed back towards the Eiffel Tower to meet up with the Jankun family after their trip up to the top, so we strolled along the streets and made our way to the Bastille, and back to the hotel for a little nap before getting some delicious pizza and walking to see the Arc de Triomphe. I am not sure which time of day I like better in Paris. Seeing all the buildings lit at night with the Eiffel Tower shimmering is really something special, but then again I really loved seeing how every single building matched and looked so elegant during the day!
Pure Perfection: Red Range Rover and the Eiffel Tower
We finally met up with the Jankuns for a little French treat, nutella and banana crepes! You can't go to Paris without getting one. Seeing that we had had such a long day, we headed back to get some sleep before another fun day exploring Versailles. We mapped out between our walk all the way from the Eiffel Tower to the Bastille, our hotel, and all the way back to the Eiffel Tower we managed to walk over 11 miles in one day!
Our second full day in Paris was just as great as our first one! We stopped at the bakery we knew to grab a baguette and had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some prosciutto and brie for a nice picnic in front of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles was incredible and wish I lived there! The art all over the place was beautiful along with the architecture and the fact that king had his own church in his house. I really liked seeing his bedroom, the room of mirrors, Marie Antoinette's room, along with the gardens, and Marie Antoinette's little English village. The trees were magnificent colors of yellow, orange, and green. Pretty much PERFECT.
We seemed to have over done it once again with all the walking and sight seeing, so we headed back to the hotel for a short nap before taking a run around the city. The run itself was probably the most magical one I have ever been on. I don't think I will ever be able to forget running through the city at night and seeing the Eiffel Tower shimmering and the city so full of life. I loved it! Tyler treated me to a great steak dinner on our last night in Paris at a place my friend, Eileen, recommended to us. We each got two servings of a small steak with a special sauce on top along with what seemed like endless amounts of french fries, and of course we could not turn down a little dessert to top off a fun date. So we decided to a get a tower of vanilla ice cream, meringue, and chocolate sauce! Another great day was over in Paris and the next day we headed off to our second destination of our adventure, London!
Before we could leave Paris there were two more things that we needed to do. Thursday morning we headed back over to Notre Dame to the famous lock bridge to add our own lock! Tyler had a lock that he usually travels with so he gave it up so we could leave a little piece of us in Paris. There were two keys that went with the lock, so we each took one and threw it into the Seine never to be seen again!
With our lock on the bridge the last thing we saw was the outside of the Louvre. The only image I have ever seen of the Louvre is the different triangles, so it was nice to see that there was more to the museum than just those! Unfortunately, we did not have time to go in and walk around, but it was neat to see some of it from the outside. I learned that it would take years to actually walk through and see every single piece of art that is in there. Could you imagine spending that much time in there?!
Our wonderful adventure in Paris was over and I'd have to say the city definitely won my heart. It was so beautiful and there are so many great memories made there that I am excited to go back and visit again!
Enough about Paris... on to LONDON!
Ty and I took the Eurostar between Paris and London and made it to London in about two hours. Pretty short and sweet! We arrived at Kings Cross station so we had to see Platform 9 3/4 before we did anything else. The bed and breakfast we stayed in was so cute and cozy and in a great location! We dropped our bags off and were once again out the doors to go and explore before everything shut down for the night. First stop: The National Museum.
We did not have much time to walk through the museum, but I feel like I was able to see everything that I would find interesting! We got to see Cleopatra's mummy, weird cats who were mummified, a piece of the Parthenon, huge statues, and a lot of Roman sculptures.
Of course it was raining when we finished our tour and were soaked once again because we forgot our umbrella in the hotel. It only rained when I forgot it! We managed to get out of the rain for dinner at a great mexican restaurant, somewhat like Chipotle but better (but not better than Moe's). It was nice to have food that was somewhat like home. We headed down to embankment after dinner to see the Clock Tower, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. All of them were so pretty at night and during the day when we saw them on Friday!
Friday was filled with a ton of sight seeing, eating delicious food, and a quick stop by the largest Rugby store I have ever been to. Ty and I started the day with a stop at the Twinings tea store to get some winter tea and a tin of tasty hot chocolate. We came across Covent Garden fully decked out with Christmas decorations and an Opera singer singing on the bottom level, and boy she was good. The Rugby store was close by and we stopped in so Tyler could see it. I don't think it would be such a bad thing if he had to move to London and work at that store! It was huge and completely ready for the Christmas season. I wanted every flannel in the store (hint hint, Tyler). We headed down towards Buckingham Palace to say hey to the Queen and see how she was doing. Thankfully, she had some time to see us and have a cup of tea. I wish! But in all honesty the palace was really pretty and so were the parks that surrounded it!
We decided to head over to the Sherlock Holmes museum to check out the cool stuff that was there. Though we did not actually go into the museum, the giftshop kept us entertained for bit with all the fun things it had. Before dinner with the Jankuns, yes they were in London at the same time Tyler and I were, we took a really nice walk around Regent Park and found some really pretty rose gardens. Mom- you would have absolutely loved it! Dinner with the Jankuns was at one of Tyler's favorite places called Jack Horner's Ale and Pie House. The pies there were delicious, along with the ale!
Saturday was our last day together, so we went all out. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral, went on a boat trip to the real Greenwich to see the prime meridian, had the most delicious roast beef sandwiches from a little market, and best of all saw the Phantom of the Opera! Everything was perfect. The weather was a little cloudy and cold, but I don't think you'll ever hear me complaining about that. A nice fall day! The boat trip was really enjoyable and the old man who gave us fun facts about London and the Thames while we were riding added some funny entertainment. The Phantom of the Opera was amazing! I had never seen it and both mom and Brady said that we should go and see it, and it was definitely worth it!
Unfortunately, our trip had come to an end and I was not looking forward to Tyler leaving at the crack of dawn Sunday morning to head back to the States, but I am so glad that he was able to take time off of work and spend an entire week in Europe with me! It was so nice to do something together that we had never done!
Even though Tyler was headed back home to DC, my trip was not over for another week. I still had to go and see Emily David in Norwich, England and Lexi in Seville with another friend, Taylor, from high school..... I'll write about my second week away from Copenhagen a little later! So much blogging in the last two days!
