Day 16- Back to London!

You know that scene in Rent where everybody says "its over!" and then they cut to Collins and he stoically says, "its over" before they cut to the sad piano part? That's kind of how I feel right now. Sitting in the hostel lounge watching Opening Ceremonies with everybody feels like it happened so long ago. And it kind of did- it was two and a half weeks ago, but still. I remember sitting there that night thinking how two and a half weeks is a LONG time to be gone, but all of a sudden here I am on the other side thinking about how two and a half weeks have absolutely FLOWN by. I'm blogging this entry on the eve of our return home to the United States. Crazy, isn't it? This trip went by so quickly.

We woke up this morning in Paris, and I'm SO HAPPY to say that we're falling asleep tonight in London. Well- Amy is, at least. I'm trying to stay up as late as possible in hopes of sleeping through most of the flight to the US. I have a feeling I'm going to be so antsy to get home tomorrow that a seven hour flight is not going to do me good. It's probably in everybody's best interest that I conk out until we get back to America.

Anyways. Like I said, we woke up this morning in Paris around 11 AM. With our Eurostar set to depart at 5, we had to stop whatever we were doing at 3 to get our luggage and head back to Paris Gare du Nord. We left the hotel at noon and decided to go have lunch at the Tuileries. Luckily, we were able to walk there from the hotel. Staying off the Metro = happy Gina & Amy. We had a baguette, some brie, grapes and two bags of chips left over from our picnic at the Eiffel Tower on Friday night, so we didn't have to stop for food before we got there. We did, however, stop at La Duree for macaroons.

Outside La Duree. Adorable little French bakery. I got two macaroons: one sea salt caramel, the other raspberry.

Something interesting that I've noticed in this country is how almost everybody speaks at least a little English. I ordered at La Duree today in French, only to be asked in response, "would you like anything else?" in damn near perfect English. No joke- that has happened every single time I've ordered food in France except once. The one time it didn't happen was at Monoprix. The woman behind the counter could tell that I was trying and continued to speak to me in French at a speed I could understand. It is my understanding that they teach English in the schools here in France. That's interesting to me. Why doesn't America do something like that? It seems almost a little arrogant that we don't, you know? Just a thought.

We left La Duree and headed over to the Tuileries, a garden sandwiched in between the Louvre and the Champs-Elysees. We pulled up two chairs in the shade, relaxed and ate lunch while we took in the pretty views.

We finished lunch with about an hour to kill and walked a little bit further down the Tuileries to the obelisk. There were some pretty views there, as well, but we didn't linger long because we (a) had to get back and (b) couldn't be left alone. Seriously. If it's not the guys running around with the HUGE rings of Eiffel Tower keychains, its people carrying clipboards wanting you to sign some petition for deaf and mute people. We've seen these people all over Paris. They come up to you and shove the petition in your face. Beyond annoying. We got to a stopping point to take a few pictures of the obelisk and got freaking swarmed. We did, however, manage to take a few pictures before this happened.

We made our way back through the Tuileries and even took a shortcut when we saw a full on ROW of guys with Eiffel Tower keychains on rings. From there, we headed back to the hotel (not before trying to be scammed ONE MORE TIME by some woman who acted like we'd dropped a ring. Ugh.) to get our stuff and head to the Eurostar. 

Honestly, I was THRILLED to get on the Eurostar and come back to London. Paris is a different world. The people in London are nice and welcoming and talkative. The people in Paris are cold and have no manners (or sense of personal hygiene). It was really annoying dealing with the crowds and having obnoxious people get in your face to sell you things or get you to sign stuff every thirty seconds. It makes it hard to enjoy things. Dinner at Le Petit Zinc was probably my favorite part of the trip. 

My overall opinion of Paris. 

On the Eurostar, after having to shoo another two people out of our seats (*eyeroll*- really, it just gets the trip off to such a bad start), I tried to sleep but ended up starting my Harry Potter book, instead. I got about thirty pages in. I plan on getting further during one of the two flights tomorrow. 

We pulled in at St. Pancras and things finally felt normal and happy again. We immediately set out for London Bridge to find Steve so that we could give him the USA lanyard we got for him. 

Giant Olympic rings at St. Pancras.

It took a little searching, but we found Steve around the corner from the train station and gave him his lanyard. We talked for a while about how London is far cooler than Paris and exchanged travel horror stories. Steve also gave us two Olympics edition Oyster Card holders. I was contemplating cashing my Oyster Card out before I leave since- well- I don't know the next time I'll be back in London, but I'm definitely keeping it now! They can keep my 5 pounds; the card and card holder are awesome. 

Before we left, Steve hit the nail on the head when he said "our paths will cross again." They totally will. Steve mentioned tonight how he is contemplating going to Rio. Last week, I said a few times that this would probably be my first and only Olympics, but now, I'm not so sure. This experience has been amazing- the games really do bring people together. When you watch the games at home, its kind of a figurative thing. When you actually attend the games, you live it. Over the course of the past two and a half weeks, I have met and spoken to people from Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Argentina, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Germany and a number of others, I'm sure. That's what is so awesome about the Olympics, everyone converges on this one location for this one thing. I don't know if I'll be in Rio in 2016, but I also don't think that this is my last Olympics. We shall see. But Steve has been instructed to let us know if he is ever in Dallas. And to never go to Houston. Don't go to Houston, Steve. Houston sucks. Trust us.

We left Steve and headed over to Hyde Park for one final sweep of both the pin trading center and the shop. We each got a cool Coca Cola pin that says "I was there!" in big balloons. At the shop, I got a hat for my Dad as well as gifts for a few friends. Backs and shoulders aching since we still had all of our stuff with us, we boarded the tube one last time and headed back to the hostel. 

One last dinner at the deli hit the spot. I came down to blog and then went back upstairs to repack. Repacking went a lot smoother than I thought it would, and that brings us to now. 

Medal cutout in the hostel lounge.

Pretty much all of tomorrow will be spent in the air, but as I've said before, I'm really looking forward to getting home. I miss the US for sure. I will make one final blog tomorrow night before wrapping this baby up. So leave me comments! I'll catch you guys then. Goodnight!

Day 15- Versailles, Arc de Triomphe and a classy French dinner!

Currently nomming on:

Chocolate chip baguette. No big deal (SO GOOD).

Day 2 in Paris was much better than day 1. We slept in, saw an historic castle, saw an historic monument and then had a classy French dinner. Amy set her alarm for 9:50 AM. Only problem with this is that her clock was still set to London time. While I woke up naturally at 10, Amy woke up to her alarm at 10:50 Paris time. We got ready quickly and left the hotel about noon. I stopped at the Monoprix (grocery store) near our hotel and got a quiche lorraine for breakfast/lunch. Quiche is breakfast-y, right? The egg and ham hit the spot as I was starving, but more in the mood for breakfast than lunch. I also got a mini "pain au chocolat" (like a mini chocolate croissant) to snack on later. 

We boarded the Metro and set out for Versailles. The train to Versailles was two levels, and also about a million degrees. Europe in general doesn't believe in air conditioning. If you're from Texas, being without AC can be quite hard to deal with. We begrudgingly sat and sweated our asses off for the 30 minute or so ride there.

Once we arrived, we stopped at the first Starbucks we've seen this whole Paris trip so that Amy could get her district manager a France mug. We left the Starbucks and walked to the castle. Which was freaking huge. 

We got inside and just like everywhere else we've been, it was freaking packed. It was difficult to navigate the crowds of people listening to their audioguides (which looked like cell phones. The people using them looked about as stupid as the Olympic athletes do when they bite on their medals.). Let's also not forget the people who would be walking along with the flow of traffic and then just stop dead in their tracks to take a picture. You do NOT need another peace sign picture with an exhibit of modern art that has no place in this castle to begin with. Now move it! Just sayin'.

More on the modern art in a second, but despite the frustration, Versailles was chock full of history and pretty pictures.

So, about that modern art. There were random pieces of art scattered throughout the castle that looked completely flashy and out of place. At the end of the hallway with the chandeliers was a larger than life-sized piece of art that looked like a pair of heels. There were also some really gaudy pieces hanging from the ceilings in random spots. Observe:

The piece that takes the cake for me- that I'm really disappointed I didn't get a picture of was the pink helicopter covered in feathers and rhinestones. This thing took up an entire room! Amy got a picture of it that I'll have to post at some point, but seriously. Ridiculous.

After battling the crowds in the castle, we took to the gardens, which were much more bearable as there was more space to work with. They were absolutely gorgeous, too.

We spent a few hours walking around outside taking in the sights and I now have a nice sunburn to show for it. After about four hours at Versailles, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the million degree train. En route back to Paris, we decided to stop at the Arc de Triomphe as it was the one monument we hadn't yet seen. 

I'm not sure what was going on, but we happened to get there in the middle of some sort of military presentation.

After the Arc, we originally planned to get baguettes from Monoprix for dinner and chill at our hotel, but Amy suggested going to a cafe as she was rather tired of sandwiches at that point. We got off at our usual Metro stop (St. Germain de Pres), anyways, because I wanted to get a chocolate chip baguette. 

Now, let me just say this about what I've learned about France in the time that I've been here. These people have no manners and don't use deodorant. Seriously. You hear about it all the time and just figure whoever is telling it to you is exaggerating, but no, it's true. After a packed Metro ride where people don't say "excuse me" and literally just push you out of the way, we were sweaty, sunburned, exhausted and cranky. Let's add to that the smell of bad body odor. It is ALL OVER. It's there everytime we get on the Metro (won't even talk about how the last Metro station we were in smelled of urine), it was all over Versailles and in line at Monoprix, the guy behind me was so bad that it took everything in me not to gag. After being pushed around a bunch of times on the Metro and being sunburned and tired, I had had it. I got my chocolate chip baguette and as we were leaving, told Amy that I was "so over this country," and "couldn't wait to be back in London."

We went back to the hotel to spend some time in the only place in France with air conditioning. This was good as it gave me a chance to cool off and come down from completely hating this country. After about twenty minutes or so, we set out to find dinner. Both of us wanted to stay nearby and not get on the Metro.

We walked down the street where there are a string of cafes and restaurant and eventually settled on an adorable restaurant called Le Petit Zinc. 

They had a special going on where you could get one starter and one entree or one entree and one dessert for 21 Euros. Amy got the starter and entree while I got the entree and dessert so we could share. We're staying in the nice part of Paris, so this was a completely welcome treat after the day we'd had. 

Food porn time!

Salad with tomato and mozzarella.

Chicken in a mushroom sauce with pasta.

Creme brulee.

We each had a glass of red wine and everything just seemed to slow down as we enjoyed our time and ate. We each spent about €35, but it was totally worth it. Again, not gonna say YOLO, but come on. When in Paris, do as the Parisians do (but put on deodorant. And use your manners. Seriously.).

In a much better mood than I was when we left, we headed back to the hotel, but things got a little interesting as we passed the adjacent restaurant. Amy pointed out to me that somebody famous must have been inside because there were two groups of men standing outside with cameras strung around their necks. We hung around for a few minutes to see if we could figure out who it was (there was a group of people sitting outside), but eventually caved and ended up asking one of the photographers (who also smelled. WTF FRANCE?!!?). 

The photographer only told us that it was a "surprise," but that it was an American celebrity. We prodded a little more until he took out a credential of sorts that had a promo picture for The Expendables 2 and pointed to Sylvester Stallone's picture. We think that it was either Sylvester Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damme- because there was another man waiting outside with handful of autographed pictures of him. JCVD is obviously not American, so I think it was either one or the other, or both. We got back to the hotel and Googled both the name of the restaurant and the movie. The Paris premiere of The Expendables 2 was in fact the same night- so it is entirely plausible that either one or both of them were inside. I guess we'll never know for sure. Made for a funny end to a great night, though, that's for sure. 

Paparazzi outside Societe L'Encouragement (yes- that literally translates to "Encouragement Society"). 

We got back to the hotel about five minutes later (it was a seriously short walk) and just chilled and blogged until about 1:30. The day was a bit frustrating, but at night, we got to experience more of the Paris you see on TV and movies. It was a nice end to a hectic day. 

Day 16 is coming up! Leave me comments and I'll catch you soon!

Day 14- That Jay-Z & Kanye song, but replace the first word with "Gina & Amy."

Hello from Paris, France! We've had a particularly busy 24 hours- so I wasn't able to blog last night as we were just exhausted. BUT- I'm here now, so I may as well bring y'all up to speed.

My alarm went off at 4 AM yesterday. Our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave St. Pancras at 6:55 AM. Eurostar train rides are much like flights in that you have to be there early and even go through security and French border patrol before boarding. Because of this, Amy and I were on the tube by 5:30 and at St. Pancras by 6:15.

The Eurostar train is nothing fancy; it's just like any other train. We sat across from each other in a compartment for four next to two older American women. We had the window seats, but when we got there, they were in our spots. They weren't too happy when we told them to move, but oh well. Next time, maybe plan better?

I fell asleep the minute we pulled away from the train station in London, and didn't wake up until we pulled in in Paris. Those were 3 1/2 hours of much needed sleep. We got to Paris and immediately boarded the Metro to head to our hotel. The London Underground beats the pants off the Paris Metro. Paris Metro just seems older and more run down. Graffiti is all over the walls at most of the stations and whereas in London, where the trains run every 2 minutes or so, they run at least every 6 to 7 minutes here. I know that doesn't seem like a huge difference, but when you've just come from London, it is.

We arrived at the hotel to find out that our room wasn't ready yet, so we dropped our luggage and set out to explore. Amy has had an "epic walking tour" planned for a while now, so she immediately grabbed the list of sights to see and we set out.

First stop was the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Next was the Pantheon.

The Sorbonne.

Somewhere between these stops we stopped in at a tiny little bakery-type thing and each ordered a baguette. So French, right? Mine was ham and cheese with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. So good. 

We started getting closer to the river to see some of the main landmarks. 

Notre Dame.

The Louvre.

Paris is a lot warmer than London- so by this point, the sun was beating down on us and we were hot and tired. We decided to go back to the hotel and rest a bit before going to the Eiffel Tower at night. Amy napped while I used the internet. I'll be honest with you: yesterday was a bit rough for me. At the two week mark of our trip, I was feeling the homesickness BAD. I e-mailed my family and caught up with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Amy woke up around 6 and we headed to the grocery store near our hotel to get some food for a picnic. From there, we boarded the Metro and headed over to the Eiffel Tower. 

My picture. Not one of those stock, artsy ones. 

We laid the picnic blanket out in front of the tower and just chilled for a few hours. Tons of other people were doing the same in anticipation of the tower lighting up at 10 PM. Only thing was, we didn't know it wasn't set to light up until 10. As the clock neared each hour and half-hour, we got hopeful that that would be it, but it wasn't until the sun was completely down that it started sparkling. It was pretty cool.

Once we were done there, we walked back to the Metro and caught a pretty view of the tower on our way there. 

We got back to the hotel about 11:30 and were up until about 1:30. Cut to now, and we've both just woken up. 

Today, we're going to check out Versailles, and then we might head back to the Eiffel Tower tonight to get more pictures. Tomorrow, we head back to London in the afternoon and then Sunday, it's back to the United States. I'm not going to lie to you, this trip has been fantastic, but I miss home so bad that it's not even funny. I'm counting down the days (it may only be 2, but it still seems like a lot!). I miss you all terribly and cannot wait to be back in Texas. Leave me comments. Catch y'all tonight!

Day 13- Icelandic footballers, Primark, something VERY British, and Scandinavian handball!

Our last full day in London! Sad. The fact that we're at this point tells me that the trip has been epic, but has also gone by in the blink of an eye! Let's get right to it.

We originally planned to leave the hostel by about 10 AM to fit in some shopping at Primark before lunch. Well, 10 AM on Gina & Amy time really means anywhere from 11:30 AM to noon. We headed straight to Oxford Street for lunch with Claire & Tom, two of Amy's friends from her time studying abroad at the University of Sheffield. We ate at a little Italian bistro and I had a good time socializing while Amy had a good time catching up.

After lunch, we headed over to Primark so I could get my first taste of London clothes shopping. Primark is like the REALLY BIG, British version of Forever 21. Cheap, cute clothes are EVERYWHERE, only where Forever 21 is two floors, Primark is three (I think, but its freestanding. Something XXI is not.). I originally decided to be a good girl and not get anything, but then I remembered my unhealthy obsession with black cardigans. I laid my eyes on a long, drapy one (exactly how I like them) for only £10. Once I found the right size, I jumped in line with Amy to purchase it. We were on a tight schedule since we had a "special date" at 3 PM, and by that time it was nearing close to 2:30. While in line, we each grabbed a pair of Union Jack sunglasses and headed towards Hyde Park for our "date."

Amy has had this date planned for months now, but wouldn't tell me what it was. My only clue as to what we were doing came in the morning when she told Tom that we were doing something "very British." As we were walking on the way there, I finally asked Amy if we were going to a tea party. Her response: "Close. We're having AFTERNOON TEA!"

We walked onto a street somewhere around Sloane Square and into a seemingly tiny hotel called "The Capitol." The hotel looked small on the outside, but was super fancy on the inside. We changed into classier clothes (come on- you can't have traditional English tea in a soccer jersey and shorts) and were led into a quaint, cozy little room.

We were given a menu of teas to choose from (we both chose English Breakfast tea). The tea was fantastic, but the best part was the food. 

The desserts were Olympics-themed! Even then, with all that food, our waiter then came back to inform us that our "warm scones" were on their way. So much and so good!

We had a really enjoyable afternoon drinking tea and watching the equestrian events being broadcast live on BBC at that time. I tried to eat all of the desserts, but after the finger sandwiches and the scones, I had no room left. Our waiter boxed up the remaining desserts for us, and from there we changed back into our normal clothes and headed out to Hyde Park to buy one last pin.

The Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Hyde Park offers a special souvenir where you can take your picture with an actual Olympic torch and get it made into a pin. Amy and I each did one, and they both turned out absolutely amazing. Once we were done trading pins, we dashed over to Olympic Park to catch our last event of the trip, handball. 

Notice how I said "dashed" and "Olympic Park" in the same sentence? Yeah, if you've been following this blog at all, you know that there is no such thing as "dashing over" to Olympic Park given the sheer amount of people. Imagine how stressful it was trying to exit Stratford, walk a bajillion miles to the Park itself and then have to walk a bajillion more to reach the basketball arena, all the while trying to move as quickly as possible through the ridiculously large amount of people. Yea, not my favorite event experience. 

We did make sure to have some fun before making the trek to the basketball arena, however. 

Handball turned out to be awesome. The fastest-paced of all of the events we've seen, the session was a one-match quarterfinal between Sweden and Denmark. Amy and I of course rooted for Denmark for Sebastian. The game was pretty evenly matched; Sweden would score one, Denmark would repeat, cut, copy and paste. Finally, towards the end, however, Sweden began to run away with it and eventually went on to win the match.

We were thrilled to get out of handball by about 8:30 since we had to pack everything in preparation for Paris this morning. We got back to the hostel about 9, and even though I had every intention of packing and calling it an early night, I was still somehow awake at 2 AM. 

This is all I've got for now. I'm gonna go with the sympathy close on tonight's entry. I had a really bad bout of homesickness today. Leave me some comments and make me feel better! I miss you guys, and can't wait to be home on Sunday! Catch y'all later!