Seen in pictures:
*Buckingham Palace
*Whitehall Building
*Westminister Abbey
*House of Parliament
*Big Ben
*London Eye
*Hyde Park (London)
*Flowers some British boy bought me
*Tower Bridge
*Tower of London
*Eiffel Tower (including views from the top of it)
*Louvre Museum
*Arch of Triumph
*Notre Dame Cathedral
This is going to be a long blog, but I promise it's worth reading :)
Last weekend I went on my favorite trip, thus far! Wednesday evening we arrived in London, England. Four college girls in London? It definitely helped that they speak English there, Italy and France were challenges. Our brave little Kelly asked a couple (very handsome) guys walking down the street if they knew of anywhere nearby we could hang out for the evening. This sparked a night full of meeting many fresh faces. The two guys were graduate students at the London School of Economics, they were very polite, intelligent, funny and generous (did I mention at least 6'3" dirty blond hair and blue eyes?..oh yes..and had the mesmerizing British accent.) We went to a bar that is on their school's campus and met a very fun and friendly crowd of students our age. The night ended early so that we could rest up for the long (and only) day we had to travel in London.
After a quick starbucks/red bull purchase, navigation plan and sadly trading in dollars for a very small amount in pounds...our London domination began. In one day we saw/awed at Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Whitehall Building, House of Parliament, the London Tower, Tower Bridge and a little SoHo shopping :) I absolutely loved all of it, the sights are incredible and I have a fascination with historical sights that have some amazing stories behind them. However, my favorite place in London was not that of one swarming with tourists nor historically fascinating...it was Hyde Park. There are several parks in the main part of London that are very similar, but this one we spent an hour in the afternoon enjoying some hot chocolate and giving our feet a much needed rest.
And this is where I had one of those moments...a moment when you can truly feel God all around and nothing is worth worrying about or being sad over. Life is just this beautiful thing that you are lucky enough to have. I watched swans, geese and ducks float around the beautiful lake, I listened to a little boy named William next to us asking him "mum" to help him put his coat on, I saw a little girl lose her footing and fall into the shallow water and her dad immediately jump in after her (even though it was 58 degrees outside) and just smile once he knew she was okay. The weather was a perfect fall day full of sunshine with a brisk breeze that made my jacket and scarf finally okay to wear.
With as many seemingly "huge" things I have done in my life, it still amazes me how much the little things make me so incredibly happy.
Now that you've read my little moment of inspiration, I am going to revert to my slightly ditzier side and tell you that I lovvedd the boys..well I should say men (after all, I'm kind of an adult now, right?).. in London! In general, the guys in England are TALL..so I was already a little partial to them. The main difference between them and guys in the states is that they are very clean cut, well dressed, and sophisticated looking...but not in a conceited/cocky way, that is just how they were raised. Of course their accents just top it all off, but from what I heard, the men talked to peers and to women in a very respectful manner. They were kind of wonderful :)
NOW Paris. I will just ignore the fact that there were adorable couples EVERYWHERE and get to the good stuff. Although it was downpouring the first night we went to the Eiffel Tower, it was beautiful. I made the fact that I was a tourist blatantly obvious by buying a "Paris" sweatshirt to keep warm before we rode the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel. The views were absolutely gorgeous, the city lights are quite a sight to see. You can see all of the main tourist attractions from the top of the tower. I am not terribly afraid of heights, but it is very high up there and it gave me a little scare! We had a nice little surprise when we got to the top, it was flurrying! First snow of the season for me I suppose :) The next day was packed with a return to the Eiffel Tower, hanging out with my homegirl Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum, seeing the Arch of Triumph and Notre Dame Cathedral. I must say that I was thoroughly disappointed with my experience of seeing the Mona Lisa. Due to idiots attempting to destroy/steal her, she is behind a plastic covering and you are roped off about 15-20 feet away from her. I honestly felt as if I was seeing it on a computer screen, because you could not truly get a good look at the detail of the painting. She is still a marvel to see though, and she definitely has a serious staring problem ;) The Louvre Museum is incredibly overwelming; it is a place you could truly spend days to a week in and still not have taken in everything it has to offer. Someday I'll go back and spend more time in it! Notre Dame is so beautiful. We did not quite have the money to go in the Cathedral itself, but it's a beauty to look at. Quasimodo waved to me from the top of the belltower, I'm sure Esmerelda was around somewhere.
If you're still reading, you're my hero! I had not posted in awhile so I thought I would bring you up to speed. My Spanish mom's boyfriend told me yesterday that he plans on proposing to her...I don't know when, but it was so adorable! In my world, that will happen someday...
I will be drowning in studies and homework for the next two weeks so I apologize in advance for the lack of blogs. I hope wherever you are in the world that you're happy :)
Love and Godspeed, Lindsey
No comments:
Post a Comment