Saturday November 15th- Paris

I ended up sleeping a really long time which definitely made it seem like a true vacation. Then I set off to try and find the Jardin de Luxembourg which Hannah told me one of her very favorite places in Paris and is highly recommended in my guidebook. On a map, it looked so close so I set out on foot to find it. What turned out to look like a close walk took me over two and a half hours. I don't think it was that far of a walk, but the streets in that area of town are crazy and intersected and not well-labeled. A walking tour and a metro ride later I FINALLY found it. It was a beautiful garden and the palace in it was pretty amazing. My guidebook says that that is where the French Senate sits now, but I don't know if that it true. It was a huge park, so beautiful and green, with art and sculptures everywhere. I took pictures and sat for awhile, but it was starting to rain, so I decided to move on.

From there I went to find a restaurant that Hannah had also suggested, I found it quite easily. I didn't want to eat there because she suggested just going for the pie and I hadn't had dinner yet, but instead took a picture to show Hannah that I had found it.

Then I walked into the Latin Quarter which I found out was called that because it housed all the universities which one upon a time were taught in Latin. So it is still a common hang out for university students. While I was there I ordered lunch from a street vendor, which was a toasted panini with three kinds of cheeses and a soda and a chocolate crepe for a really good price. I tried to order in French, which I did (though my pronunciation is completely horrendous) and the problem with doing that is then they answer you in French. He handed me the bag with the crepe in it and said something in French and then proceeded to roll his eyes when I told him that I was very sorry, but that I didn't speak French. I never actually had a problem communicating here, everyone spoke English really well. They would say 'Bonjour' and I would reply with 'Good morning' and they would immediately switch into English. I was really grateful for that, but also very jealous of that talent.

I walked to the Pantheon and the Sorbonne. At this point it was starting to get a little dark and I had three things that I was deciding between to go and do with my last evening: 1. A cruise along the river to see all the sights at night, 2. The National Library, 3. The Arc defense area, which apparently had really good shopping. I decided on 1, the river boat tour. It was the only way that I would probably get to see Paris by night. It was really cool to see the sights all lit up, especially the Eiffel Tower which is lit up blue and on the hour will flask sparkly lights (I've uploaded a video in the video section). It was really the only time I saw either of the cities by try night. The tour was translated into so many languages it was crazy: French, English, German, Japanese, Spanish and something else but I can't remember. It was fairly packed considering it was a rainy, cold Saturday night.

After the river cruise I walked and saw some of the Christmas decorations that they had up already. After that I found the nearest metro and came back and explored the area around my hotel. I went to the local supermarket and got some cookies to bring back for my flatmates, which actually ended up being quite tasty!

I came back to my hotel room and packed and watched CNN (which incidentally highlights a city and they highlighted Seattle that night, so weird!) and the European Music Awards in German after trying to watch Simpsons in German. I took a hot shower so that my legs wouldn't cramp up in the middle of the night like they did the night before (so painful!) and fell asleep.

Sunday November 16th - Paris to London

I got up fairly early and made it to the Eurostar station very quickly, but I didn't realize what exactly the process of traveling on Eurostar included… it was very intense! I had to check in, check tickets, stand in line for immigration, get told had to fill out immigration landing card before getting in line, get back in line for immigration, go through security and try to find my coach and seat. Someone else was in my seat, but I found a quiet empty pair of seats.

It was about a 3 hour train ride from Paris to London, and it was really crazy to think that I was going underwater! Got to London around 10:00 am with the intention of bumming around London, but I was going to leave my luggage at the station, but they were charging more for it that I had expected and it was rainy and a Sunday, when nothing opens really before noon. So I went and took my picture at platform 9 ¾ (re: Harry Potter!) and looked at the small tourist shops around and then just caught the train home.

It was overall an amazing trip. I know that I will never have this exact chance again and I wanted to make the most of it. Although I know I will need to go back to both Prague and Paris to fully appreciate them.