June Part 2- The European Adventure-part 2

Day 7-Monday June 17th- Today we finally woke up early enough to walk the kids to school-they had been begging us to.  Their school is a lot like Hogwarts.  They wear uniforms with ties and they are even seperated into houses. You'd think JK Rowling was British or something. We started the day with a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theater.  It was a pretty cool place, but hard to think of what the actual conditions were for those who went there in his time.  Next we headed to the Monument.  A big tower in the middle of the city to commemorate the big fire--and yet another spiral staircase..  Before heading off to our main attraction for the day we stopped and ate at our first pub. Did you know it's nearly impossible to find Dr. Pepper in Europe--let alone Diet Dr. Pepper? No wonder why they don't drink soda.  Our main attraction of the day was the British Music Experience located in the O2 Arena in Greenwich--it did not disappoint!  The O2 is HUGE--like it's own little mini city. We had a great time looking/listening to the timelines of British musicians, playing different instruments, and even learning some new dance moves:) Then to end the day day we took a Thames river cruise from Greenwich back to Big Ben.

Dropping Audrey and Jaxon off at school

Our second cement spiral staircase--very narrow I might add

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

They are not at all excited to be here....

Day 8- Tuesday June 18th- This was our last day in London so we made the best of it.  We started the day off at the British Museum..my favorite for sure.  We saw the Rosetta Stone which was cool, but really the whole museum is cool.  It has tons of Egyptian and Greek sculptures.  From there we found the ultimate geek store, Forbidden Planet, we had to get some Dr. Who souvenirs for our geeks back at home:) After that we  took the tube (yes by then we were pros at minding the gap and using the tube) to Harrods where we bought sandwiches, drinks, and treats to eat in Hyde Park.  It felt great taking a break in Hyde Park.  It's HUGE!  We walked from there to the Princess Diana Memorial, Kensington Gardens, Royal Albert Hall, and then to Kensington  Palace.  After taking the time to see all the historical sights, we decided it was time to be a bit frivolous and modern and find Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station.  It took us awhile and made us look like silly tourists again, but it was worth it.  Miranda got a great photo of her pushing the cart into the wall, but i'd have to scan it in--too much work.  They had a cool Harry Potter store right there..yes, they have beefed it up just for us tourists:)  After a nice dinner we went to one of my favorite things we did in London.  We saw Wicked.  It was AMAZING!!!!! We all loved it and it was so much cheaper than Broadway.  I love how they build the theater just for that show.  The cast was great too.  It was a perfect end to our London experience.

@ Royal Albert Memorial..the girls took advantage of it being a slow tourist day

Day 9-Wednesday June 19th-After a late night out on the town we slept in on Wednesday morning.  We had a relaxing morning doing a bit of laundry and packing for Paris. At about 2 we went back into London to to catch our train bound for Paris.  We were pretty excited to travel through the chunnel, but alas we didn't even notice it.  We went through several tunnels on the train ride and I'm not sure which one took us under the water.. there were no big signs or announcements...I just happened to realize at some point that I could not read the signs or graffiti that I saw out my window.  Kind of a bummer.  Our hotel in Paris was just a few blocks away from the Eiffel Tower.  After getting settled in our room and eating a yummy dinner at a cafe we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and went on a Seine River cruise.  It was pretty cool getting our first look of Paris from the river. So many cool bridges! By the time our cruise was over it was dark an the Eiffel Tower looked amazing.

On the train

The view from our hotel

Day 10- Thursday June 20th-With this being our only full day in Paris, we ran...we traveled by a hop on hop off tour bus and were able to see the Paris essentials...The Louvre, The Orsay, Notre Dame, The Arc de Tromphe and a few other places.  We got drenched in a downpour, took pictures of bridges, shopped at H&M, ate at cafes, and then ended our evening with a tour of the Eiffel Tower.  It was a whirlwind of a day! My favorite though was the Arc...being on top and watching the craziest round about I've every seen and feeling like you were at the center of it all.

Musee du Louvre

The Mona Lisa..ya it's that small

On the lock bridge in a downpour

Notre Dame

On the bus...we got very use to bus tours

The Arc de Tromphe...so glad I wasn't driving! The view from the top was amazing...and yes, it was another cement spiral staircase

The tower went all sparkly when we were on it..it was a pretty surreal moment

Day 11-Friday June 21st- With only another half day in Paris, we started early again.  We went to the top of Montparnasse Tower...thankful that there was an elevator and not another dreaded cement spiral staircase.  The view was amazing.  From there we took a train and spent the rest of the day at Versailles.  Holy Hugeness!  We could have spent two days there...and I do believe just about everything was gold plated and over the top ornate. My favorite part of the day though was eating pizza for dinner at one cafe and then walking to the cafe next door to eat crepes for dessert.  We had to eat crepes before we left Paris!  Oh so yummy! Then, it was back on the train to Paris for one last look at the Eiffel Tower and another train to take us back to London.  Kind Paula stayed up late and came into town to pick us up and take us back to her house.

Nutella w/bananas, cinnamon apple drizzled with caramel sauce w/ice cream, and chocolate filled=Heaven!

We love Paris!!!