Eurotrip - Paris

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Day 6: Paris, France


We hopped on the Eurostar to Paris (SO. COMFORTABLE)! We realized our train to Paris would leave earlier than anticipated so we couldn't go to the London Museum of History like I wanted, oh wells.

The day started off to a great start when, upon packing up to leave, Halim made a big mess at our London hostel.

The first mission was to find our hostel: FRIENDS HOSTEL on Rue La Chapelle located in the Montmartre area. My dear friends, please NEVER go there. The hostel is not bad but it is located in the sketchiest, most ghetto and dangerous looking area of Paris. I swear I saw a drug deal happen before my very eyes! There are clusters of police located on every block - it's SCARY. I'll feel safer at Jane & Finch.

We met up with Swati at the hostel and proceeded to go to the beautiful Sacre Coeur (we couldn't go to any of the good areas yet).

After a small climb, we got to the top where I was greeted by all my fans who all crowded around to see me on the staircase. This was a significant place because it's where Swati got her first Eurotrip stalker, this creep guy who hit on her and introduced himself with this pickup line: "I saw you outside and I followed you in here."

I JUMPED PLACE VENDOME COLUMN. We got off at Opera station and walked around the area towards the Seine River

I JUMPED PLACE DE LA CONCORDE. This used to be a famous execution site. Yeah...but I like it cos its purdy.

The prettiest bridge ever, Pont Alexandre III. We saw the Grand Palais and Petit Palais on the way and played around for a bit before crossing this bridge.

A view of the sparkling eiffel tower and the Seine River from the bridge. Yah, I can see how Paris looks like a romantic place and all... but I don't think so at all!!! Don't be fooled into coming here for your honeymoon

We took the metro to La Defense, which is the business district located on the outer edge of Paris. This is where all the highrise buildings are located, including this huge ugly piece of architecture called le Grande Arche. That's original. The area reminded me of a more open version of downtown T.O.

On our way back to the hostel we got off to get a glimpse of the famous Arc de Trimophe at night. That was the end to the best night in Paris


Day 7: Paris II

First thing in the morning, we returned to the Arc and crossed like 8 traffic lanes - with crazy French drivers speeding around the circle - to get to the middle area (little did we know there was an underground tunnel you could take to get there without having to risk your lives)

We got on the tour bus and saw all of Paris. We passed by the Eiffel Tower and LOOK HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE THERE? Damn you famous tourist attraction!

Tour d'Eiffel, bitches.

It sucked cos they don't let you go on the only grassy area you can find in all of Paris. P.S. WHY IS EVERYTHING, THE ROADS, EVERYWHERE, SAND AND GRAVEL? Those who made the fatal mistake of wearing flip flops had white feet by the end of the day

We walked to the Notre Dame cathedral and waited in this super long line to pay 5 euros to climb the tower (it was better than the line to enter the actual cathedral). It was a killer climb, not because of the fatigue but because it was scary as hell. These are the gargoyles from atop the Notre Dame (please don't come to life!)

I CONQUERED THE NOTRE DAME! I understand now why Quasimodo has a huntchback... he had to climb that stupid tower everyday

No one wanted to eat authentic French food cos it was expensive (I was outnumbered!) so instead we ate cheap food. We understood now why it was so cheap. Swati literally saw them take food out of a can, put it in the bowl and microwave it. She took this picture as proof

This is the result of my microwaved food. Can anyone say CHEF BOYARDEE??

We walked to the Louvre and I was truly excited. If Robert Langdon could see me now...

I JUMPED THE LOUVRE, oh yes I did. This place, formerly the Tuileries Palace, is extremely stunning and oh yes... very sandy! We didn't go in because it was closed so we hung out at the fountains which was the MOST relaxing period of my trip.

We headed back to the Eiffel Tower at night to get a view from the top at the best time. Or so we thought... there were still HORDES of people there, took a solid 30-40 minutes to get onto the lift alone. Took even longer to get down. Oh yes, this is where we lost Jackie.

This was the longest, most tiring day of them all and I thought my legs were going to die at this point.


Day 8: Versailles, France

We took a train to Versailles which was pretty relaxing and I would've had an epic nap if people weren't so fascinated with taking pictures of me sleeping all the time.

After a short walk, we got to CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES, the most extravagant palace that you'll ever see in your lifetime. As you know, this used to be the place of residence for all the monarchs of France, including the famous yet tragic queen, Marie Antoinette

The entrance is plastered in gold. Oh yeah! Well my door has a door knob that is painted with a golden colour...

The two storied cathedral within the palace, aka crazy shit went down here!!

A view of the garden that goes on forever and ever. It's a shame we didn't get to go to Marie Antoinette's petit trianon and visit the rest of the gardens (did I mention it goes on FOREVER?)

The "Hall of Mirrors" the prettiest place in the entire palace

Marie Antoinette's bedroom. This is where she got freaky (eventually) with Louis!!!

Art Gallery which is a super cool place. We spent a lot of time here listening to all of the stories behind these paintings


The end of the day! Versailles just goes on and on and it really does take more than a day to explore every inch of the palace. I look forward to coming back


Day 9: Paris III

LOUVRE TIME! I'm not going to post up the artwork cos it will probably bore you guys, so I will post up the more interesting and famous stuff.

nike = VICTORY! Does looking at this give you the urge to buy running shoes?

The Mona Lisa. It's arguably the most famous painting in the world, and it's probably been talked about to death after the Da Vinci Code became famous... but here it is! Don't come to the Louvre if you only want to see it, because you'd benefit more from looking at an artbook - it'll be bigger that's for sure

Every time I look at this, the Viva La Vida intro plays in my mind. Yes, it's from the Coldplay album cover but it's also a famous piece of artwork by Delacroix called "Liberty Leading the People" (if art interests you, here's an interesting fact: Delacroix painted himself into the photo - he's the dude in the top hat)

Keep me here please!

Last awesome thing we got to see: VENUS DE MILO! Reminds anyone else of Homer Simpson eating the green candy?


This is the piece of artwork I had to enjoy for half an hour instead of the Louvre. I really liked the Louvre but we didn't have much time to spend there because the girls wanted to go shopping. If I didn't have to buy the sister-in-law her Louis Vuitton bag, I would've definitely stayed.


Summary

What I learned about Paris: EVERYWHERE IS SANDY! It's ridiculous. Grow some grass that people can actually walk on! And also, don't roam Rue La Chapelle at night because that's what me and Jackie did and I was scared for my life. Actually, don't go to Rue La Chapelle at all if you know what's good for you.
Rating: 8/10. I gave it a rating of 7 and I don't remember why I left this place with such a negative feeling. Maybe I do. But thinking again, j'adore Paris and I think it's a lovely city. When you go there, it's definitely not what you expected from movies. It's not as romantic and people aren't that fashionable, it's just a normal city where people live which happens to have awesome pieces of architecture. Then again, how romantic can it get backpacking with a big group of dirty people? Touche.

Eurotrip Day 3 to 5 - London

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Day 3: London, UK


This is Birmingham. Why? I was going to tell you how we ended up here but what happens in Europe, stays in Europe... Anyway, we had some time to kill before our bus to London so we did a little walking around and I think we've seen enough of this place. It reminds me of downtown Kitchener *shudder." We ate breakfast and Jackie was mad that they wouldn't accept his Scottish pounds.

We arrived at Smart Hostel (my least favourite of them all) which was in Russell Square in London. We shared the room with 10 other people, and I felt especially grossed out by the showers.

LONDON BABY! The minute we got here, I was already lovin every minute of it. The tour bus was great and I loved getting to see all of the London sights along the way.

Arrival at Trafalgar Square, one of the most visited tourist spots in the world

We were waiting in line to board the cruise boat on the River Thames

The boat got off at the Tower of London, which is a famous prison and place of execution (including my gal pal Anne Boleyn)

A view of the Tower Bridge

We took the tour bus and got off at the Marble Arch and took the subway back

The London tube is freakily deep underground which makes these escalators go very high

This is the view from the London County Hall balcony at night which is right above the aquarium. It was cool because a band was playing and it was such a chill place to be

A view of the London parliament from the boardwalk

We spent the remainder of the night exploring the West End of London (central London) and it was beautiful. We went to Covent Garden, and London is really lively at night and there's just so much going on. We stumbled upon the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and saw that Oliver! was playing and me and Ira made it a thing to get tickets and see a West End play! We ended up walking home to our hostel and that was an end to a very exhausting day


Day 4: London II & Cambridge

Our plan for the morning was to go watch the Changing of the Guards, which is a daily ceremony where the guards march to Buckingham palace with a marching band playing music.

Driving past Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.

We waited for the marching band outside of Friary Court

They start marching to Buckingham Palace and we're all running up beside them

We get to Buckingham Palace and there's A TON of people waiting there already to see this ceremony take place

That's Buckingham Palace with the memorial to Queen Victoria directly in front of it

The famous St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a really beautiful sight (but I'm still glad I saw this before seeing St. Peter's Basilica or else I would've been pretty disappointed)


A view of the Statue of Queen Anne in front of the Cathedral. This was the last place we visited before heading off on a train to Cambridge to meet up with Jackie's cousin for dinner


Cambridge, UK

We arrived in the quaint town of Cambridge which is essentially a university town and had dinner with Jackie's cousin's family. We ate at an Italian restaurant and had a really lovely dinner

Cambridge University's King Entrance... where we sneaked into later at night and pretended to be students while exploring the campus

This is punting, which is like a gondola except they use a pole to move the boat

King's Cross station. Why am I taking a picture of this? Because I am told that this has some reference to Harry Potter

Summary

What I learned about Cambridge: We learned that punting is very popular, and then we learned what punting was lol
Rating: 5/10 because it's very pretty but other than the university, there's not much to do/see (I think those 5 hrs we were there was enough)


Day 5: London III

LAST DAY IN LONDON!

We headed to Leceister terminal to purchase our Oliver! tickets and then had a typical English breakfast, which consists of: toast, fried egg, sausage, bacon, beans and chips

Our next mission was to visit the London Eye which you can see in the background from the bridge we crossed

The London Eye is definitely overrated and I can see why people dislike it (it just doesn't fit with all the historic architecture and is really expensive for what it is.)

Us on the London Eye

I JUMPED THE LONDON HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

A picture in Westminster

I JUMPED WESTMINSTER ABBEY

I did not jump Buckingham Palace (cmon have respect for the Queen). We bought tickets to go inside but we were not allowed to take pictures. It's really lovely inside, I was just thinking the whole time that my mom would LOVE this

We ate at the Palace cafe and my poo cake tasted amazing thank you very much

The backside of Buckingham palace from the Palace Gardens

So our next mission was to find these Queen's foot guards and take those silly pictures with them. We were told to go to St. James but none was there! All we have is pictures of them but we couldn't go near them since there was a scary looking chain blocking us.

We then shopped on Oxford and then RAN LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE to the Theatre to catch Oliver! because we were afraid of being late.

We ACTUALLY watched Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Druxy Lane which I didn't expect. I didn't mind at all because I acted in the play back in the day and I loved everything about the musical so I was stoked to see it. It was a really well performed musical - very fun! This got the tune "Oliver" stuck in Ira's head for the rest of the trip


THIS IS OMID DJALILI. He was the star of Oliver! playing Fagin, and he was SO HILARIOUS. Jackie kept imitating his dance. He was so nice and asked us where we were from, and we got his autograph. This was a fantastic end to our last night in London


Summary

What I learned about London: That I LOVE LONDON.
Rating: 9/10. LONDON BABY!!!!!!! This was one of my favourite places to go and there is so much to see and do. It's everything you expect from London and more. Also, how can you go wrong with guys and English accents?