So here is the long lost post on my last two weeks being abroad. If you read the post before this one you will understand why I have not written this one until now. So my family came to see me, which included my Mom, my sister and and my Aunt right when I was finishing up my semester. My Aunt had some troubles with flights so she didn't end up coming until a day later than my Mom and sister. We spent a few days in Bath, England so that they could see where and what I had been doing for the past four months. I think that they explored more in Bath then I had in the four months I was there, but that happens. While my family was visiting, ASE (Advanced Studies in England) the program I was with, had a final tea. It was great to see everyone one last time before everyone either headed home or traveled some more. Some of the people I will stay in touch in, but others I will not which is to be expected. Anyways after Bath we headed to London for a couple of days.
In London we stayed at a place called the Clink, which it used to be an old courthouse and jail, I thought it was cool but my mom and aunt were not to thrilled because the rooms were small and also it was more of a youth hostel than anything else. Now onto what we did on our first full day! We decided that it would be a good idea to take one of the sightseeing buses since London is so big and we did not have time to see everything in the a short amount of time we were there. Once we got off the bus we went to the London Eye, which I had already done with my dad when he came and visited me, yet I wanted to do it again. After we went on the River Thames Cruise, which runs right through London and we went to Tower of London and had a tour of it. It was interesting and I even saw some stuff that I did not see with my dad. We all decided just to take pictures of Tower Bridge instead of doing the tour and we went to Shakespeare's Globe instead. After that we went to see Grease the play, however we did get lost finding the place we were supposed to have dinner, but made it in time.
The next day, so Tuesday, we decided that we wanted to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, however it was not happening on that particular day because the Queen had to go to Parliament. I think that we saw something better than changing of the guards because we got to see the queen ride by in her carriage back into the palace. Once that was done we walked to Westminster Abbey and just took a picture of the Abbey since there was other things that we wanted to get done before leaving. Next we went to Convent Gardens where we walked around and had dinner.
Wednesday- Paris, France!!
I finally made it to Paris, France because that was one of the places that I wanted to visit while being in England since they are so close to one another. We took the chunnel from London to Paris, now I am glad that we took it however don't ask me about it because I ended up falling asleep for a majority of the journey. Once we got to Paris we found out that our reservation at the hotel was not going to work since their was four of us even though my mom wrote a note saying that we would need an extra bed. The reason it would not work was because the rooms are so small in the hotels and an extra bed would not work since the biggest room was already occupied. We were sent to a nicer hotel down the road and we were glad that they messed it up. Once all of the kinks were fixed we walked over to the Eiffel tower, which we could see from our bedroom window! All of us did go up to the top, but once we got up there it started to rain on and off. The view from the top was beautiful and breathtaking we could see all of the major landmarks from up there! Once we were done looking around we decided to get some dinner and then go on the Seine River to see a majority of Paris lit up at night, but it was cold and I was not dressed in the right clothes however I still fully enjoyed it.
Thursday:
My sister and I decided that it was a good idea to sleep in late today and that is just what we did, therefore we did not get to see as much, but we needed the sleep! What we did do was interesting: another bus tour and The Lourve! The bus tours are actually very useful when a person is only in one location for a short amount of time because the tours usually stop at all of the major attractions that tourists want to see. The Lourve was amazing and so big that I don't think we even saw a quarter of it. Guess that just means that I will have to go back another time to Paris, o Darn! Well after seeing part of the Lourve it was time to get some food so we got on the bus and headed towards Notre Dame. We were going to go up to the top but the line was so long we decided that we would come back on Friday. So instead we ate and went souvenir shopping, which I thought was a great idea.
Friday:
All four of us got back onto the bus and went to the Notre Dame, the line was not that long so we thought that going to get some breakfast would be a good idea and also finishing our souvenir shopping. However once we got back to the Notre Dame the line was long, go figure! But we waited anyways and I am glad that we did because again it was beautiful up there, I think the whole city is gorgeous anyways! Once we finished there we went to a place called Lafayette, now you may not have heard of it before and that is because it is not an attraction everyone goes to, but we would because it is a Huge shopping area with all of these individual designers from all over, some of them I had never heard of before. Unfortunately I did not go crazy in there because some things were expensive, I did not have the money and I did not have the space in my suitcase, trip number two sometime soon, I think yes!
Saturday: Dublin, Ireland
This was the last city on our adventure, which was bittersweet, yet we were going to make the best of it. We arrived in Dublin early so we were excited that we were going to have a full day there, the taxi driver we had was so friendly actually everyone there was especially nice. Once we arrived at the apartment that we rented we found out that the night before there was a pipe that burst in the room we were going to be in, therefore, we were not able to stay there. So they put us up in a hotel and then the next two nights we were in a different apartment. On Saturday we did not do much because we were waiting to hear where we were going to be staying, so we just walked aimlessly around the city to try and get our bearings. However, we were able to do some shopping, which is always nice. For dinner that night we went to an Irish Pub, where all of the food was wonderful.
Sunday:
The four of us woke up early and went on a bus tour of Dublin, which as I said earlier is the best way to see a city in a short amount of time. The first place that we got off at was Trinity College, which is one of the oldest colleges in Dublin and perhaps in Ireland. At the college we got a tour, but it was not a full tour that people would get going on a campus visit. At Trinity College we saw the book of Kells, which I had no idea what it was until going there. After we finished at Trinity College all of us got back onto the bus and decided that we were going to have lunch at Temple Bar, which is located in an area that looks like it is from the medieval period. After eating we got back on the bus and headed to the Guinness Factory, that place is huge. The factory was a self guiding tour, but it showed the process of how the beer is made now and back a long time ago, old advertisements etc. Once you get to the top to the sky bar everyone that wants to can have a pint of Guinness, I opted out! However, from the top there is windows all around so you can see all of Dublin. Once we finished at Guinness we actually met up with some family that live in Dublin, I know I am related to them through my mom's side of the family but I am not sure how, anyways we had drinks at a pub and just talked about how everyone was doing, the normal thing, catching up! It was a nice way to end a vacation with family by also seeing family in another country. We now had the lovely task of packing to either go home or continue on European adventures. My mom and aunt headed back to the states on Monday June 1st 2010 and my sister and I headed to Italy for a week.
The twelve days went by fast, but a lot of memories were made, some were captured by pictures and others we will just have to remember. One theme throughout the entire trip was that we never stayed in the same room for all three nights, but that is what makes traveling interesting. I am so grateful that my family was able to come see me while I was in Europe and I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my semester abroad.
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