Day Six: Spitafield's Market
On Sunday, Kathleen, Sinead, and I met Fionnula near Liverpool Street
and walked up towards Spitafield’s Market.
We walked around for a while and admired all of the items for sale, then
stopped to get some coffee (which wasn’t that great, unfortunately). After our coffee we recommenced our
meandering and ended up buying two dresses at the market, and honestly I don’t
really know how it happened. I was torn
between the two so I asked them which I should get, and the salesman suggested
both and at 20 £ each that would
have been too expensive so I said no.
But then my aunt started haggling with him and somehow knocked 8 £ off the price, and before I knew it I
was holding the bag with both dresses.
After the market we decided to find place to have a drink, and
after leaving one pub because it was too packed (since there was a football
match on), we ended up at The Ten Bells where I had my first legal beer in a
pub/bar. The Ten Bells was formerly
known as “The Jack the Ripper,” because it is known to be the place where Jack
the Ripper would drink and pick out his victims. Creepy, right?! My first beer ever in a legal setting was at
the pub where Jack the Ripper hung out.
That’s pretty memorable, to say the least.
After drinks we all headed back to the house for dinner and
it was an early night for me—I was completely exhaustified.
Day Seven: Touring London
Monday was the first day on my own, since everyone was
either working or at school. It took me
forever to plan what I wanted to do that day, but I finally came up with an
itinerary I was satisfied with. I took
the 101 bus to East Ham, then got on the tube and took it to Tower Hill. I allowed myself to be a tourist and took loads
of pictures as I walked across the
Tower
Bridge, then explored the
area directly next to the river on the south side. I walked west along the river until I reached
the Tate Modern, where I spent a couple of hours inside. That is really a fantastic museum, and it was
free entry! After the Tate, I walked
across the
Millennium Bridge towards
St.
Paul’s Cathedral.
I wandered around the area taking more pictures, and checked out the
occupy movement they have set up there.
As I was taking pictures an older gentleman came up to me and asked me
if I was a professional photographer. I
told him I wasn’t, but we continued talking and he gave me a bunch of
suggestions of good places to take photos in the area. He also turned out to be a French teacher,
and was just recently in the south of
France in the area where I’ll be
living so he wrote down a few “off the grid” places I ought to check out while
I’m there. Pretty cool! After he ran off to catch a train I decided
to track down a bakery that Fionnula recommended the day before called Bea’s of
Bloomsbury.
I ordered a latte and a coffee & chocolate cupcake. Both were very delicious! And beautiful, too.
Since the bakery was located in a shopping center, I decided
to kill some time looking around a bit there.
I went to Top Shop and H&M but I didn’t buy anything. Yay for self control! At around 5:30 pm I took the central line
from
St. Paul
to Wanstead where Kathleen picked me up to go grocery shopping. I think my favorite part about being in a
foreign place is grocery shopping. Well,
maybe not my absolute favorite thing, but it would definitely be in my list of
top 5 favorite things about being in a foreign country.
After grocery shopping we went back to the house where John
made dinner and we watched a movie. I
can’t remember the name… something with George Clooney and Michelle Piefer
being single parents. Anyway, the rest
of the night I planned what to do the next day.
Day Eight: Notting Hill
Tuesday was my last full day in London.
I took the 101 bus towards Wanstead and from there caught the central
line and took it to Notting Hill Gate. I
kind of love the movie Notting Hill, it’s one of my guilty pleasures, so I
obviously had to track down the different areas in Notting Hill where they
filmed it. I found the garden where Hugh
Grant tried jumping over the fence and embarrassed himself by saying “whoopsie
daisies,” and I walked down Portobello Road and found the spot where Julia
Roberts and Hugh Grant bump into each other and he spilled orange juice on her,
and I also found Hugh Grant’s apartment in the film. It no longer has the blue door, it’s a black
door now. I think I read somewhere that
they auctioned off the original blue door for charity or something, so that’s
alright.
After I found all the spots I was interested in seeing, I walked back down Portobello
Road and then found my way to Kensington Palace Gardens where I walked by a ton
of embassies and, of course, Kensington Palace.
Right next to Kensington Palace there’s an entrance to Kensington Gardens
which then connect to Hyde Park, so that’s where I went. I walked around the gardens and found the
circle pond with all of the swans and geese hanging out. Then I walked along and crossed over to Hyde
Park and I found one of those stands that sell ice cream, coffee, etc. That was very exciting for me because I have
so many fond childhood memories of being in England and eating those soft serve
vanilla ice creams with the flakes sticking out of them, but the last couple of
times I went to England I didn’t come across a place to get one again. So of course I had to get one, and it was
delicious. It lived up to all of my
memories and expectations of them.
I left Hyde Park by the marble arch at Oxford Street and
decided to spend the rest of my time checking out the shops, though I only
ended up going to Primark because the entire area was completely mobbed and it
was a pain getting around through all of the masses of people. I bought a scarf from Primark, but it was
only 3
£ so I don’t feel bad about
it. Plus, I had been lusting over that
scarf since I saw it at Primark the first time so I would have probably felt
worse if I hadn’t gotten it.
After Primark I tried catching the central line from Marble
Arch station, but for some reason they weren’t letting anyone on, so I went to
Bond Street station to catch it there.
At Bond Street station I found out that the central line had a massive
signal failure so trains stopped moving for about an hour and there were a ton
of delays. Luckily the delays cleared up
right before the train I ended up catching caught up with them, so I didn’t
have any trouble getting back to Wanstead station. From Wanstead I took the 101 bus back to the
house.
When I got back to the house Kate and John were already
home, and Sinead and Dom got there shortly after I arrived. Since it was my last night in London we all
decided to go out for dinner. They
brought me to a fabulous Indian restaurant (which I can’t remember the name of,
unfortunately), and we basically had a huge feast. Everything was delicious and it reaffirmed my
love of Indian food.
After dinner we went back to the house and we all (including
Bella) hung out watching television. After
a bit I thought I ought to start packing and get some sleep, though despite those
good intentions I didn’t end up getting any packing done that night, and I
didn’t get very much sleep either. Oh
well.
Day Nine: Goodbye London, Bonjour Paris!
Wednesday I woke up early to say goodbye to Kathleen before
she went to work, and then I tried getting back to sleep but I couldn’t for
some reason, so I ended up getting a start on some packing.
I really hate packing, and it does not get easier as you
accumulate more things.
A bit later in the morning I said goodbye to Sinead before
she headed out for the day, and though she offered me a ride into town I hadn’t
come close to finishing my packing yet to unfortunately I couldn’t take her up
on that offer. That was alright though,
because I still had some stuff to do before leaving Wanstead. I took the W19 bus to the Tesco grocery store
in Leytonstone and I bought some chocolates and flowers to bring back to give
as a thank you gift. I also wanted to
buy a bottle of Club Orange but I couldn’t find any! I even stopped at a gas station on my way
back and they didn’t have any either. I
wonder if it has been discontinued or something. I hope not.
Anyway, after I got back I finished packing and was pretty
much ready to go. John came back and I
said goodbye to him before taking off.
Once again I caught the bus to the central line and took that
to the St. Pancras/Kings Cross station.
My train scheduled to leave from St Pancras, but being the
Harry Potter nerd that I am, I first went to Kings Cross first to see Platform
9 ¾ , but I couldn’t get to it! It was
sectioned off or something, and I think you had to buy a ticket or something to
get in, but I didn’t have time to figure it out exactly. I was very disappointed, but I suppose that
leaves me something to do on my next trip to England.
 |
| Gearoid's apartment window |
I didn’t have any problems catching my train. The Eurostar from London to Paris is a very
short trip, just a little over three hours I think it was.
I arrived in Paris at 6:15 pm at Gare du Nord. Gearoid met me there at about 7:15 pm, and
from there we took a taxi to his apartment.
I quite liked his apartment. It
was small, like almost every apartment in Paris is, but the living room was
pretty big and it had these two great large windows that looked out onto the
street. It was very pretty.
We went out for dinner that night to a place just around the
corner from his apartment called Bistro Nico.
It was seriously amazing food.
For my starter I ordered avocado filled with crab and a salad, for my
main course I got risotto with truffles and prawns, and for dessert I ordered a
coffee crème brulee. So good. Next time I’m in Paris I’m definitely going
back to that restaurant.
After dinner it was pretty late, and I was exhausted from
the long day and the wine at dinner, so I went to bed pretty much immediately
after getting back to the apartment.
Day Ten: Touring Paris
I woke up so late on Thursday! It was about noon when I woke up, so I rushed
to get ready in order to have as much of the day to spend in Paris as I could.
The metro was so conveniently located just a few yards from
Gearoid’s apartment, so I took the metro from Guy Moquet and got off at Champs
Elysees/Clemenceau. As I was walking
along Les Champs Elysees (and quietly singing Champs Elysees to myself), I ran
across Laduree! I knew there was one on Champs Elysees, but I read on their website that it was closed for renovations,
but it was open! So I snapped a few
photos and walked right on in. It is
gorgeous on the inside, a bit gaudy, but still very pretty. It wasn’t very busy, so I didn’t even have to
wait in line to order my Napoleon box of six macarons. I got rose, salted caramel, pistachio, milk
chocolate, raspberry, and coffee. So far
I’ve only eaten two but they are sososo yummy.
The box of only six macarons put me back about 15 euro, but the
experience of being at Laduree and how delicious they are made it so worth the
money.
After Laduree I continued walking along Les Champs Elysees,
and I took photos of the hotel I stayed in the first time I was in Paris
(Georges 5), and the famed Fouquets (where I have eaten before!), and then I
reached l’arc du triomphe! I took so
many pictures of that, because even though I’ve seen it in person many times
before, I didn’t take any pictures of it!
From there I walked to La Seine, and then I followed the
river towards the Eiffel Tower. I took a
cheesy picture of myself with the Eiffel tower in the background, but I promise
I won’t take photos like that very often. When I reached Le Trocadero I bought a crepe du chocolat from one of the
many crepe stands. It was, of course,
delicious.
I walked across the bridge towards the Eiffel Tower and
walked around underneath it then hung out in the garden area on the other
side. Last time I was in Paris I went to
the very top of the tower, so I didn’t really feel the need to do it again, but
I really enjoyed just hanging out by it.
I ate the first of my macarons there.
Once I decided to be on my way, I walked east towards the
neighborhood Saint Germaine. I walked
past Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, and while I had entertained the idea of
getting lunch at Les Deux Magots during this trip, I decided against it because
I wasn’t very hungry after eating the crepe and it’s a very expensive place to
eat. Next time.
I caught the metro at the Saint Germaine de Pres station,
and took that to the Cite station. Cite
is the only metro station on the island where Notre Dame is located, so after
getting off there I walked to Notre Dame.
I’ve been inside twice before, so I mostly just wanted to get photos of
it with my film camera, because I really think Notre Dame is beautiful in film
photographs, more so than in digital.
The sun was starting to set and I had plans to meet Gearoid
in front of the Opera House, and since I planned to walk all the way there I
had to get going. I crossed the river
and walked along it towards Le Louvre.
As I was walking, a guy came up to me and asked me (in French), where le
Pont de Neuf was, and I instinctively answered him in English. Taken aback by the English, he then said (in
English), “Oh, you’re not French! Where
are you from?” So I told him I was from Minnesota and we talked a bit. I noticed he had an accent, and I was pretty
sure it was an Irish one but I asked where he was from anyway, and he told me
he was from Cork! Of all the tourists in
Paris to ask me for directions, it ended up being a guy from Ireland. So funny.
We parted ways, and I continued towards the Louvre, then turned right
and walked in front of the pyramids, then continued towards Opera. I got to the Opera House just in time to meet
Gearoid, and then we headed off to the cinema to see The Artist. I thought it was a very good movie, though
overall a bit depressing despite the happy ending. The entire time I was waiting for something
even worse to happen to him. I’ll
probably have to see it again before really loving it.
We got dinner at a place called Bistro Romain, right next door to the
cinema. It was convenient, but the meal
was just not very good. I had to send
something back to the kitchen for the first time in my whole life! The salad I ordered was completely drenched
in this awful tarragon dressing that tasted like it came from a bottle, and
they didn’t even devein the prawns. The
main course wasn’t much better. I
ordered salmon, but the edges were over cooked and the side was just a massive
pile of french fries. It was definitely
a let down compared to the dinner I had the night before. Too bad.
It was quite late by the time we got back to the apartment,
so I went to bed directly.
Day Eleven: Montmartre
I got another late start on Friday. I woke up at 12;15 pm. I really don’t know how that kept happening,
because I set an alarm but I didn’t even hear it.
I decided to walk to Montmartre that day. I had never seen the Moulin Rouge, and I
decided that it was about time that I did.
I got a little bit turned around, but I winded up exactly where I wanted
to be! The Moulin Rouge is such an
interesting looking place. The street
it’s located on kind of reflects what it used to be, too. Pretty interesting. I walked around a bit in the general
direction of Sacre Coeur without really knowing where I was going, but I
figured if I kept walking up the hill I’d get to where I wanted to go, and I
was right! I found myself directly below
Sacre Coeur, so I walked up towards it.
Unfortunately I was basically harassed by those street peddler
guys. I was walking up the stairs when
one of them came up and basically cornered me, and tried to get me to give him
money for something I didn’t even want. I
gave him a few coins and he told me that wasn’t enough, but I sort of shouted
at him and told him that I didn’t even want it in the first place and that he
could have the few cents but that was all and I that I was going to leave. He was pissed. There was a huge group of them, and I think
they may have sent one guy to follow me.
I noticed a guy watching me for the next half hour or so as I was
walking around Sacre Coeur taking pictures, so I decided to leave just to be
safe. I followed an older English couple
down the stairs and to a street from where I knew I could get back to the
apartment without trouble. I’m so pissed
at that stupid street peddler for making me feel like I had to leave
though. I won’t be going back to
Montmartre without someone else with me.
 |
| Counter at Laduree |
I hung out at the apartment and started to get my stuff
together, but then I thought I’d go down to the patisserie that’s practically
next door to the apartment to get something to eat. I ended up buying a pain au chocolat (what we
call chocolate croissants in the US) then walked around for a little bit before
going back to the apartment to eat it. I
thought about packing some more, but decided to go back to Laduree
instead.
When I was at Laduree the day before I saw that they had the
recipe books for sale in the gift shop for only 30 euro, so I asked my parents
if they would reimburse me for it as an early birthday present (since I’m going
to be in Egypt on my birthday). They
agreed, so when I went there on Friday I bought it. I also decided to pick up a couple of
pastries for dessert to give to Gearoid as a thank you for letting me
stay. I ended up buying a passion fruit
and raspberry tart, and a “carre chocolat” which was basically a square of
chocolate heaven.
 |
| Treats from Laduree |
Once I returned to the apartment I couldn’t put it off any longer,
so I started the inevitable chore of packing.
Gearoid came home and asked if eating in that night would be okay, and I
said it would, so he ran out to get some groceries to make dinner.
He invited his friend, Ali, over to have dinner with us that
night. We had a very good avocado salad,
spaghetti bolognaise, and the treats from Laduree for dessert. It was a very fun evening, and we stayed up
much too late considering how early we had to get up the next morning to get me
to the train station on time. I think I
finally got to sleep around 2 am, which gave me only 4 hours before I had to
wake up in the morning.
More soon!
After the market we decided to find place to have a drink, and
after leaving one pub because it was too packed (since there was a football
match on), we ended up at The Ten Bells where I had my first legal beer in a
pub/bar. The Ten Bells was formerly
known as “The Jack the Ripper,” because it is known to be the place where Jack
the Ripper would drink and pick out his victims. Creepy, right?! My first beer ever in a legal setting was at
the pub where Jack the Ripper hung out.
That’s pretty memorable, to say the least.
Monday was the first day on my own, since everyone was
either working or at school. It took me
forever to plan what I wanted to do that day, but I finally came up with an
itinerary I was satisfied with. I took
the 101 bus to East Ham, then got on the tube and took it to Tower Hill. I allowed myself to be a tourist and took loads
of pictures as I walked across the 
Since the bakery was located in a shopping center, I decided
to kill some time looking around a bit there.
I went to Top Shop and H&M but I didn’t buy anything. Yay for self control! At around 5:30 pm I took the central line
from 
The metro was so conveniently located just a few yards from
Gearoid’s apartment, so I took the metro from Guy Moquet and got off at Champs
Elysees/Clemenceau. As I was walking
along Les Champs Elysees (and quietly singing Champs Elysees to myself), I ran
across Laduree! I knew there was one on Champs Elysees, but I read on their website that it was closed for renovations,
but it was open! So I snapped a few
photos and walked right on in. It is
gorgeous on the inside, a bit gaudy, but still very pretty. It wasn’t very busy, so I didn’t even have to
wait in line to order my Napoleon box of six macarons. I got rose, salted caramel, pistachio, milk
chocolate, raspberry, and coffee. So far
I’ve only eaten two but they are sososo yummy.
The box of only six macarons put me back about 15 euro, but the
experience of being at Laduree and how delicious they are made it so worth the
money. 
After Laduree I continued walking along Les Champs Elysees,
and I took photos of the hotel I stayed in the first time I was in Paris
(Georges 5), and the famed Fouquets (where I have eaten before!), and then I
reached l’arc du triomphe! I took so
many pictures of that, because even though I’ve seen it in person many times
before, I didn’t take any pictures of it!
The sun was starting to set and I had plans to meet Gearoid
in front of the Opera House, and since I planned to walk all the way there I
had to get going. I crossed the river
and walked along it towards Le Louvre.
As I was walking, a guy came up to me and asked me (in French), where le
Pont de Neuf was, and I instinctively answered him in English. Taken aback by the English, he then said (in
English), “Oh, you’re not French! Where
are you from?” So I told him I was from Minnesota and we talked a bit. I noticed he had an accent, and I was pretty
sure it was an Irish one but I asked where he was from anyway, and he told me
he was from Cork! Of all the tourists in
Paris to ask me for directions, it ended up being a guy from Ireland. So funny.
We parted ways, and I continued towards the Louvre, then turned right
and walked in front of the pyramids, then continued towards Opera. I got to the Opera House just in time to meet
Gearoid, and then we headed off to the cinema to see The Artist. I thought it was a very good movie, though
overall a bit depressing despite the happy ending. The entire time I was waiting for something
even worse to happen to him. I’ll
probably have to see it again before really loving it. 
