Eurotrip: London to Paris

Well, I tallied my photo total from the 3 separate sources in which they're all located, and the final picture count is 1524! That's way more that I thought! A little over 500 of those are from backpacking with Sarah, so I suppose I was pretty close in my original guess.

Day 1 - London to Paris


This morning I had to say goodbye to my roommate, Christina, and we both cried. I really did not expect it at all! Sarah and I made sure the room was all clean and got a take-away lunch at the refectory- and what do you know, we used up all but one cent of my meal plan! After I checked out right at noon, Sarah and I got our butts to the tube with our huge backpacks and I realized right away that I had overpacked. Again! But, other than that, there were no problems getting to the Eurostar and I even took a nap on the way to Paris. We arrived in Gare Nord and then things got a little difficult- we bought our metro tickets first, and then I went to the same info desk I went to last time I was in Paris and after waiting in a rather large line, we were told by an exasperated "info" guy in poor English that he could not provide us with directions to our hostel and that we needed to go upstairs to the big info center! Apparently the fact that there was a big INFORMATION sign above his desk meant nothing. So, feeling a little surprised but not yet daunted, we went back upstairs... and had to ask where an info desk was. We were told by the money exchange people that there was one right on the other side of a little bakery- we got over there and they referred us to the tourist info booth, which was way, way over on the opposite side of the station. Which was also closed. Sarah and I looked at each other and decided to just go for it, since we had some directions on our hostel confirmation. (I thought it was smart to just double check with info people that the hostel actually existed and maybe get a map too.) So, using our brains and the metro maps, we finally got ourselves to our hostel and all in one piece.

We got ourselves a map and decided to head straight to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped for dinner on the way (a very cheap-because-it-was-probably-old sandwich) which we ate on a bench then after a few minutes found ourselves at la Tour! Our hostel had a pretty great location- on the south side of the river, and about a 20 minute walk from the famous tower.

We wanted to wait for it to sparkle, so after a few pictures we sat in the grass near an interesting group of people and watched them until I got weirded out and we moved. Let me describe them to you: about 40 people were dressed up in rainbow colors or all one color; they were dancing to about 5 guys playing different percussion instruments; those that weren't dancing were milling around a circle made by six different colored bicycles with a corresponding huge flag in it; and there was a goat. Once they all got in a big circle (next to the other one) and put the goat in the middle, I decided we should get moving before they sacrificed it or something! We watched La Tour get sparkly and went back to our hostel. I took a shower- disaster!


The first open bathroom I could find was two stories up, the size of a shoebox and smelled like urine. To top it all off, it lasted for 10 seconds. That's right, every 10 seconds I had to push the button again so more water would come out! It was quite an uncomfortable experience, but I survived!

Home Sweet Home Again

I've arrived back home safely! The past 2 and a half weeks have been a flurry of action and wonderful sight-seeing! I am currently catching up on rest, adjusting to the new time zone and (pretending) to unpack everything (I can't believe I have so much clothing and just stuff!). I'm glad to be back in NH and able to pet my awesome, little dog, give my mom a hug and high five my bro, Adam. I think I should say a big "thank you" to my parents because they helped fund me plus gave me some good travel tips like "don't forget your passport" (haha, or something like that). So...
Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I'll do a day by day recap of my backpacking with Sarah (very soon!) and tally up some stats, like how many pictures I took (I think it's close to 1000). So thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my semester abroad!

in AUSTRIA

Hello from Austria! Sarah and I are at an Internet cafe and I have about 10 minutes left. A few of the keys are rearranged... but, we had one heck of a travel day yesterday- we were on the train for about 14 hours!! We missed our first train because of gelato and Sarah's short sleeves, but that story is for when Ii have more time! We are both sleep deprived but doing well. Tomorrow we are going to do the Sound of Music tour and we are watching the movie before we go (the hostel shows it everyday!)

I am glad to be out of Italy, mostly just because of all the stares and looks we got from the Italian men! The weather was really great and both of us got a tan. Today, Salzburg had some crazy weather, but it was nice most of the time! We walked around the old part of town and watched a kids race. Fun times! Well, we are going to go take showers and get to bed to be well rested for our Sound of Music extravaganza of a day! Auf Wiedersehen!

In ROMA

Hello! Sarah and I are safe in Roma, at the moment! We are at an internet cafe with a funky keyboard... and we both need showers! We took an overnight train from Paris to Rome and arrived this AM.
Tomorrow we are off to Pompeii for the day! Today we did the Coliseum and saw the Trevi Fountain... and yesterday we were on top of the Eiffel Tower! We are having a lot of fun so far and the food is GREAT. Sarah says "Hello. I need a shower. That’s it."

Exam Week and the Final Performance

This week was finals; I had 5 finals in 2 days and I am glad that it's over! One of my finals was for acting class and we did a little performance for a bunch of students. I was surprised how many people showed up! But I think this classed helped me with talking in front of crowds because unlike the first day of class where I cried, on Tuesday when we performed I was only a little bit nervous and T and I did pretty well! I was actually so nervous at the beginning that I had no saliva in my mouth and I almost choked on the candy I was eating --I couldn't swallow it! (I was eating candy for my role, not just because I love to eat candy!) It ended up being not that horrifying and I'm going to miss that class because it was a lot of fun!
On Wednesday I handed in my last paper and then after lunch took a little nap outside in the sunshine with my roommate and her roommate next year, Caitlin. It felt good to have NOTHING due and no more school to think about until the fall! Caitlin and I had the same economics professor (different classes) and he had invited all his classes for drinks at the Volunteer Pub which is right down the street. So after dinner, me, Caitlin and our roommates headed over. We got there about an hour after the little party started, and we never ended up actually seeing our professor! Oh well.

Goodbye London (for Now), Hello European Mainland!

I have been packing like crazy and getting all my stuff ready for the great backpacking adventure which has been shortened to about two and a half weeks. Sarah (my backpacking buddy and former roommate) arrived yesterday and we had a tour de force of the city of London. We actually did something new (for me) and climbed Primrose Hill which is behind Regents Park. At the top was this pretty cool view of the city! We then visited a bunch of London-y places like Camden market, Covant Garden, Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, Parliament... and all the rest! Sarah got into London pretty early so we just started our day around 10- and finished about 11 hours later!
Today we are leaving on the Eurostar for stop #1: Paris! I don't think I will have much time to do a "real" blog with lots of pictures, details and wit, but I will try to post a little blurb about where I am as often as possible. In case you are curious about our route after Paris we plan on going to Rome, Pompeii, Salzburg, a city in Germany (to be determined), Amsterdam and Brussels. After Belgium, we are coming back to London and Sarah is going back home and I will continue to Scotland to take a 3 day tour!

I Got a Green Stamp in My Passport for Going to Dublin

On Friday, Mom and I headed off to Ireland! We planned it all out so when we landed back at Heathrow Mom would already be at the airport to fly back home. She also agreed to take my huge suitcase back with most of my stuff, which was 1) awesome and 2) kind of heavy (it was 21 kilograms which converted = 46.3 pounds!!!). I would personally like to thank who ever thought of the great idea to put wheels on suitcases- who knows how I would have gotten my stuff back home without wheels!
We got to Ireland in the afternoon and waited for a little while for our shuttle. It finally came and then drove right by our hotel! We were confused but figured it out, then dropped everything off and decided to check out the city. Well, the hotel was kind of not near the city center... which meant we had to take a bus about 30 minutes to the main street, O'Connel. (Way to pick a great hotel, Amanda!) We mosedy around the Temple Bar area and got dinner at a little restaurant right next to the actual, famous Temple Bar. Mom and I both got something from the traditional Irish menu- Irish Stew for Mom and Beef Ireland for me. (Those Irish have some creative names for their food!)

Mom at Dublin Castle

The next day we decided to do the hop-on, hop-off bus tour which I liked a lot (Mom too!). We got on at stop #1 and stayed on the whole thing til it brought us back to the beginning. Our tour guide was a hoot- he kept introducing himself by a different name to the people getting on at each stop (like Patty, for instance). We went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells which is an illuminated manuscript. There was a whole exhibit before the actual book, which is from a long time ago (it's the gospels in Latin written by some monks with a lot of time to spare)
We also saw Dublin Castle, which was pretty neat. We checked out St Patrick's Cathedral and walked around the Temple Bar area again. We rode by the Guinness factory twice but didn't go in since the line was around the block and we didn't feel like waiting! However, Mom decided that it was not right to visit Dublin and not have any of the local brew, so she bought a can and we tried it. We were told that it's an "acquired taste" and I will agree with that. Guinness is not my favorite drink; I prefer root beer.
We left on Sunday at, get ready for this, 4:15AM.... I was tired! Our flight was at 6:40, so basically we didn't have to leave that early. We got to the airport in plenty of time and eventually we got on and slept until we got back to London. Mom and I had a little bit of a tearful good-bye, then she got on her plane and I got on the train back to the city.
I got an email from Mom on Tuesday (her flight was Sunday) saying that she had missed her connecting flight back to NH from D.C. and it was a little bit of a fiasco. But, she's back home safely now with Adam and Petey (the pooch)!

Photos:

Trinity College (I took that sitting on the top

of the double decker of the hop-on bus)

The lamp posts were pretty cool- there were more varieties too!

A Visit from My MOM! and a Spot of Tea

A day after I got back from lovely Paris, I was visited by none other than Mrs. Ager, my mom. I was very happy to see her and I think she was excited to be in England (oh yeah, and I think happy to see me too, haha!). I had my worst day of class attendece the day she came, as I decided to skip a class (or two) and leave midway thru another. I picked her up at Paddington train Station (after searching all over because there isn't really a main entrance, which is where we agreed to meet). Now this is the cool part- as we were about to enter the Tube to go to her hotel, an old couple gave us their Tube day passes! They said they were done with them and that we could have them. So naturally, I was excited to have all day to show Mom London and get to do it for FREE! So, all that day we went to every touristy thing I could think of- St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abby, Parliament and Big Ben, Picadilly Circus, the Temple Church, Trafagar Square and a few other things in between. We used those day passes to their fullest extent (thanks, old people in the Tube!). I am also proud to say that I now have a much better understanding of the Tube than I did when I got hopelessly lost a few months ago!
After our day excursion around the fantastic city of London, we came back to Regent's and I "treated" Mom to a lovely dinner at the refectory (I have a lot of money left over on my meal plan). We also found a train to some cool castle down south and the next day, Mom and I got her a ticket for the train to Arundel. I didn't go with her as I had a very special appointment that afternoon- AT THE RITZ. Oh yes, Wednesday was Christina and my's wonderful afternoon high tea at the ritzy Ritz. We got all dressed up in fancy clothes and shoes that hurt our feet (but looked fabulous) and had a smashing time being classy and drinking tea.
We reserved this time slot way back in Feburary, so we were looking forward to tea for quite some time. Once we got there, we ordered our tea (I got Earl Grey) and they brought out a 3 tiered platter that had sadwiches, little desserts and warm scones. It was pretty much great and I would go back again tomorrow!

Parisian Adventures- Continued!

Day 2

On Friday, Christina and I struck out on our own. We enjoyed breakfast then headed straight to the Louvre. Once inside, we popped over to the Mona Lisa (obvious stop) then saw the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory. We took some funny pictures then tried to get out to get some food- we followed "sorti" (exit) signs for EVER until we finally found our way back to the entrance. I spied the inverted pyramid that shows up at the end of The Da Vinci Code so I made Christina go look at it with me. We were starving so we were elated to find a food court just beyond it. I sat down and Christina promptly spilled her entire drink on my lunch! We got a replacement, but they didn't refill Christina's drink or give me a new lunch for free- those French fast food workers! After we downed our lunches, we decided to hit the streets and spend a little dough. I only got postcards though we were both searching the souvenir shops for "Paris" bags, but only Christina was successful.

We decided to see the Eiffel Tower up close, since we had seen it in the distance earlier. Once we got there (it took a while!) we had a little nap in the grass at the base. It was very lovely, since the weather was great- no clouds! We had dinner at a little cafe that was right in the neighborhood over from La Tour Eiffel, and I had a view of it from my seat! We had some tuna quiche which was actually pretty good. We went back to the grass and laid in the sun with the intention of watching the tower light up and sparkle after dark, but we realized at about 8 that it was still very light out and that wasn't going to happen any time soon. At that point we decided to head back to the hotel and navigated our way successfully back, passing the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Élysées .

Day 3

I felt very tired when I woke up but still managed to motivate myself to get to breakfast before it ended! (they had some good croissants!) Christina and I were on our own again and our first stop was Moulan Rouge! It was pretty anti-climactic; I don't know what I was expecting, but all there was was the giant windmill thing on the roof of one building. Christina thought there was some souvenir shop or something, so we tried asking the guy standing outside where (if any) it was, but he spoke no English and I forgot the French word for "shop" so we just kept on going. Sarcre Coeur was the closest famous thing, so that was our next stop. We snagged a baguette and a block of brie along with some fruit and finally managed to make it to the top! We had pretty much perfect timing-- lunch time, that is! We sat on the steps and had a very inexpensive, very yummy meal in the sun! One weird thing happened... some guy walked by us talking on his mobile and after he hung up, sat down pretty much on top of me. Christina and I thought he was going to ask for food or try to do something to us but thankfully all he did was ask us stupid questions ("Did you buy that food in Paris?" ...no, sir, we brought it with us from London) and then wished us 'bon appetite' and left us alone.




After lunch we did some shopping and I bought my Paris bag (woohoo!) and we decided to drop our shopping stuff off at the hotel. We saw a little pastry shop a block or two before we got back, and decided we needed some dessert-like food. I saw this huge chocolate thing in the window and decided that was what I wanted, so I got it! It ended up being two big meringues pieces, frosted together like a giant cookie, then frosted all on the outside then rolled in chocolate pieces- It. Was. Amazing! This is me eating it:


After making a slight dent in my chocolate and sugar ball of delight (which lasted me ALL DAY), we decided that the Champs Élysées was where we wanted to go, so we did with the intention of spending some €€€. We held onto our money and did some window shopping instead and ended up walking along the river. At this point Christina was possessed with the desire to do a river cruise so we immediately jumped on a waiting boat and it left right away! It took a little over an hour and was very nice. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Yup, it was a mini version!

pondering the river cruise

Once we go off, we made our way back to La Tour where we met two girls from Regents and ended up chatting until it lit up! It was pretty cool- it was like a giant sparkler! We took pictures of it for the whole 10 minutes it was lit up, then since there was a crepe stand right there, bought ourselves some crepes. I got jambon et fromage (ham and cheese) and it was mighty tasty. We took a few more pictures then went back to the hotel for the night.


Day 4


After waking up at 9:30AM we panicked because we didn't know what time check out was but we soon found out it was at noon (whew!). After eating, we packed our stuff up and since we had about 7 hours or so until our train left, Christina and I headed back to the Eiffel Tower. We took a road that led us to an overlook point where we proceeded to take many ridiculous pictures:





We then headed down to the base and did 2 laps (on the inside) because apparently, as Christina related to me, if you do so you will find and marry your true love. Unfortunately, no rich, available, good-looking men bumped into/ proposed to us but I'm not sure how long we have to wait for the effect to kick in!

action shot while we did our Eiffel laps

We then headed back to the hotel, and I bought another block of brie for dunch. We got our bags and tramped to the metro (with my huge backpack) and got ourselves to the train station. I still needed some bread to go with my cheese, and Danielle was nice enough to come with me around the streets by the train station while I searched. Eventually we were pointed in the direction of a boulangerie (bread shop!) and I found my baguette (and it was only 80 cents!). We went thru the Eurostar security then had a nice long sit down because we were wicked early!! By the time we got back to London, there was no baguette and no brie... yes, I ate the ENTIRE 3 foot baguette and slice of brie. (It was my late lunch /dinner /snack)