An Adventure in London: Day 1

I've spent the last couple days in London, seeing all the sights and spending some time with one of my English friends.

Francine and I left early (and I do mean early. Like 5:50 early.) on Wednesday morning. We didn't leave quite as early as we planned, because I ended up forgetting my shoes and had to go back for them. Then we got on the bus to get to our coach. But evidently we got on the wrong bus, because it didn't go to Piccadilly, so we got of on the wrong stop and took a taxi the rest of the way. Then we sat at the coach station for 15 minutes with this god-awful buzzing sound driving us insane. I have no idea what it was, but it was really annoying.

Then we had a four hour coach ride, which I mostly slept through. Once we got to London, we made out way on the tube to Mill Hill, which is where Fran's Grandma lives. Ann, Fran's grandma, was kind enough to let us stay with her for a couple days. She is an absolutely amazing woman, and she has a very thick Irish accent that I love. She was so kind, and even made me a cup of tea.

We made our way into London, and our first stop was Westminster. We saw the famous clock tower, which, by the way, is NOT called Big Ben. The bell is called Big Ben, and the tower itself is the Elizabeth Clock Tower.

And it was such a beautiful day!

Then we continued on to Westminster Abbey, which was recently the site of a royal wedding! We didn't go in, because it was expensive, but it was magnificent enough from the outside. At one point, we were standing on top of a wall to get better pictures, and this group of seven or eight boys with skateboards walked past and shouted, "Get those angles, girls!" Which made no sense at all. And then one of them tripped so we started dying. Anyway, here are the pictures we took:

Sadly, it was too expensive to go inside. 

Then we went for a walk in St. James's Park, which is just alone the road from Westminster Abbey. It was very beautiful, because the flowers have finally arrived and the trees are beginning to bloom.

 We were silly and took some fun pictures under the blossoms; Francine didn't get as into it as I did. We did get some funny looks though.

Then we went to a pub to meet some of Francine's old friends, who were lovely. We had a great time, and then went to dinner with them too. Then we made our way back to Mill Hill and crashed very soon after.

Paris: Icons of France

I'm sorry that this post is so late; I've been spending some much needed time with family these past couple days.

But back to Paris!

The first day we were in Paris, we visited the Notre Dame. The famous cathedral and the set of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. As you probably know, the novel tells the story of a hunchback called Quasimodo who is a bell-ringer in the cathedral of Paris. The hunchback falls in love with a beautiful gypsy girl called Esmeralda. Sound familiar? That's because of Disney:

Thanks Disney!

At the time of writing this story, the cathedral was in a terrible state and desperately needed to be repaired. When the book was published, people became interested in the cathedral and everyone insisted on renovating the building, thereby saving it from certain destruction.

So while I'd seen the cathedral before, it had only been in cartoon form. Here was the real thing, right before my eyes:

Do you remember at the very beginning of the film, when Frolllo kills the gypsy woman right on the steps of Notre Dame, and the Priest warns him of the "eyes of Notre Dame?"

This part. It used to scare me when I was little. 

That part is surprisingly accurate. When I walked through the doors, I felt eyes on me. The entire façade is covered in a row of saints, looking on and silently judging. The gargoyles on the top were also quite impressive, though they never did pop to life.

Mady and I. This is the back of the cathedral.

We visited the Louvre on the second day. And while we didn't actually go in, there was plenty to see outside as well, such as the famous pyramids. The glass pyramid was built by I.M. Pei, and was inaugurated on March 30, 1989. They were resisted at first, because the metal and glass clash severely with the old and stately building where it is based.

Mom is getting really impatient for this one. So here it is: The Eiffel Tower. 

Me in the rain... with a ton of other tourists. 

Me and Mady actually visited the Eiffel Tower on three different occasions. The first time it was raining, so we didn't stay long at all; only long enough to snap a couple of pictures. The second time we went, it was dark. That was my favorite visit, because the Tower looked so beautiful all lit up. 

This is one of my favorite photos that I've ever taken.
I may have to invest in a real camera when I go home. 

At eight, the Tower started to sparkle. It was so amazing, and I could feel the excitement in the air. Mady and I were breathless and laughing, and we were running under the tower to the other side to capture the event in a picture. Sadly, none of the pictures turned out great. This is the bast one:

The last time we made our way to the Eiffel Tower, it was the day we were to leave. So we got up early to see it one last time, and get some last chance photos. 

The last day in Paris, but what a great time we had!

Our very last stop was the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph). It was built between 1806 and 1836, and stands at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle. The Arch stands 162 ft tall, 150 ft wide and 72 ft deep. It's absolutely massive. The arch is in honor of those who fought for France, in particular, those who fought during the Napoleonic Wars. Engraved on the inside and at the top of the arch are all of the names of the generals and wars fought. There are inscriptions in the ground underneath the vault of the arch which include the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, where the Memorial Flame burns.

Weekend in Wales

So I didn't really spend the weekend in Wales per say, but I did spend two days, so it was like a weekend. And "Weekend in Wales" sounds was better than "Wednesday and Thursday in Wales."

Anyway, Susan and Ray were kind enough to take me to Wales to see my first castles! We left around 10 in the morning, and our first stop was Conwy Castle.

Conwy was built for Edward I between 1283 and 1289. The castle has a total of eight huge round towers (but we only climbed up a couple) and the views from the battlements are amazing. They look out across both the mountains and the sea. From the top of the tower, we could see Conwy's whole ring of town walls. Conwy is the classic walled town. Its circuit of walls are almost a mile long and guarded by 22 towers.

That's me, wishing for a castle of my own...

The best photo I took of Conwy, from atop one of the towers.

After Conwy, we took a slight detour to see the smallest house in Britain. It's so tiny; only one room (a kitchen I think) and a ladder to a loft as a bedroom. It doesn't look all that bad in the first picture, so I included the neighbor house in the second one for scale.

We also saw this lovely lady dressed in traditional Welsh dress. 

The nest stop was this lighthouse on the coast by the name of South Stack. This is the same place that they took my Aunt Stacey when she came to visit years ago. We didn't actually go down to the lighthouse, because the weather was horrible. It was cold and raining, and the wind was the worst of all. I would have loved it had the weather been nicer, because it was so beautiful. Susan said that when the weather is nicer, you can sometimes see the seals playing around here. And had it not been so foggy across the water, I would have been able to see the coast of Ireland.

South Stack Lighthouse

A beautiful picture of the Coast. I could definitely live around here. 

The last stop of the day was Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. Yes, that's actually the name of the town. It means "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the fierce whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave" in Welsh. Locals call it Llanfair PG for short, and I don't blame them. I wouldn't call it by the actually name either. It is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the place with the longest name in Britain. With 58 characters, it is the longest place name in Europe and the second longest official one-word place name in the world (the winner being Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoron-ukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu in New Zealand).

The next day we got up and had a nice breakfast at a local pub before heading to our second castle in as many days: Caernarfon. the construction of Caernarfon be can in 1283, and was completed in 1330. Interior buildings no longer survive and many of the building plans were never finished. After the English Civil War, Caernarfon Castle was allowed to fall into ruin, until the 19th century when the state funded repairs. In 1911, Caernarfon Castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales, and again in 1969 with the investiture of Prince Charles.

The castle was a labyrinth of passageways and tight spiral stairs. Many corridors led to dead ends and I had to turn around. The stairs were a nightmare; all of the stairs were the steep and spiral variety. They were also uneven, and one had to be careful when placing one's feet. The way down was twice as difficult as the way up. We only climbed to the top of one tower because of this.

This is the view when you first walk in.

And this is the view of the castle from atop the tower we climbed. 

Guys, I want a castle. Look how at home I look!

I also made a friend. This is the resident castle cat, who was very friendly, and we became quite a pair. I pet her once, and picked her up and set her on my lap, and from that moment on we were best friends. But then she wouldn't leave me alone. My jeans have cat prints all over them now, but that's ok, because I was having cuddly animal withdrawals. Castle Cat helped me a little.

Isn't she pretty? 

One last view of the castle walls, from the outside.

Then we went to the beach!!! We went to a rocky beach first, which I absolutely loved. Rocky beaches aren't nearly as messy as sandy beaches, and the rocks all look so pretty. I'm a fan. 

That island in the background is Puffin Island. :)

Another picture of the coastline

Susan and Ray and I found some pretty seashells. I kept them.

One more picture of the coast :) I just loved it so much!

On the way home, we took a roundabout way through Snowdonia, the mountain range in Wales. It was gorgeous, and it made me want to go climb a mountain! Which is weird, because I don't do that. But maybe I should start, because look at this view: