We'll always have Paris...

My cousin Trisha arrived in London last Wednesday and we have had a whirlwind week full of travel, fantastic sights, delicious food and cold beer.  I was a tad late picking Trish up from the airport (oops!) but it was only a few minutes.  Trisha was introduced to the joy of traveling by tube on our way back to the flat.  After dropping off her luggage and freshening up, I took Trish to visit Josh at his office.  The Angel building has an amazing view of London from the rooftop.  From there, Trish and I hopped on a bus and headed towards the river Thames for a little tour of London's highlights.  Of course, our first plan of action was to enjoy a pint at one of my favorite pubs...The Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. 

Trisha at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

 

Trisha in front of Tower Bridge

 After enjoying our beer and sharing a plate of fish and chips, Trisha and I took a walk along the Thames so that she could see a few of the local landmarks, like Tower bridge, the Tower of London, London Eye and about a hundred pubs along the way :)

Mmmm...pig heads...

Trisha was also introduced to the weirdness that is London...where else can you buy a whole pigs head???  Borough Market of course!

Later that evening we met up with Josh and had a nice dinner at a Lebanese restaurant near our flat.  It was pretty tasty!  Then we had to make our plans and prepare for the following day...Paris watch out!

Trish and Josh at St. Pancras station.

Josh and I on our first Eurostar trip.

We took a Eurostar train from London to Paris.  It was a fantastic way to travel!  It is so nice to be able to arrive at the train station, go through some quick security and be on our way to Paris...so much easier than flying!  Josh and I will be taking the Eurostar again in a couple weeks to Brussels (Soooo excited!!)

In less than 2 hours we had arrived in Paris.  It was a fantastically beautiful day.  I admit that I was not expecting much from Paris because I have heard it is dirty but I have to say, I loved Paris!  I think it is MUCH cleaner than London (can we work on that Boris???)  The only weird/gross thing about Paris was the obvious smell of urine in random areas...it seems that public urination must be common.  While I didn't see anyone pee in a corner, I know it happens!

Our fearless navigator :)

We started out walking towards our hotel...unfortunately, Josh was leading us to the wrong hotel, but it all worked out in the end.  We were able to drop off our stuff and head back out into the city.  Our first stop was the Sacre Coeur Church on Mont Martre.  We climbed the steps up to the church and got a great panoramic view of Paris. 

Sacre Coeur Church

The Eiffel Tower from Sacre Coeur (yes, that is smog!)

Inside Sacre Coeur church.

After leaving the church we weaved though a bunch of streets.  I loved how white Paris is, most of the building are made with a white limestone.  The stone gives the city a cohesive, clean look.  Add some iron work balconies and you have perfection!

A Paris street.

Trisha found a Parisian hunk :)

 We next came across a huge cemetery.  The tombs were large and made of stone.  They looked like little house and had iron doors.  Some were in disrepair, but many were still standing strong after a hundred years. 

Inside of a tomb.

Iron doors on a tomb.

A few of the tombs.

We then walked to the Louvre.  The Louvre is surrounded by the most massive, long building I have ever seen...it seemed to go on forever!  We enjoyed the views and took some pics, but did not go inside.  Non of us were that excited about seeing the Mona Lisa (sad, I know, but the weather was beautiful and none of us wanted to go inside!).  I guess I will just have to come back to Paris to view all of the art!

Me, Josh and Trish at the Louvre!

Part of the building surrounding the Louvre

Josh and I at the Louvre.

 We decided that the Eiffel Tower was our top priority for the day, so we walked what seemed like 5 miles (yikes!)   The tower was more amazing that I had ever thought it would be.  It really is a place that needs to be seen and experienced to really understand how beautiful and wonderful it is.  My only regret is that we didn't see it at night...yet another reason to plan another trip to Paris soon!

Bridge across the Sine

Josh and I at the Eiffel Tower!

Eiffel Tower

Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Trish and I at the top of the Eiffel Tower

It was a little nerve wracking on the way up the tower...our elevator went up, then went back down.  The guy running it said something...in French of course, so we didn't know what was going on!  Luckily everything was okay and we went up again.  The ride made my hands sweat though...we were going up pretty fast with steel and beams and sky whizzing past.  I think I would have rather walked all the way up!  The view of Paris was amazing at the top though, totally worth the stress! 

Triumphal Arch from the Eiffel Tower

A kiss on top of the Eiffel Tower :)  It is the city of love...

Ice cream in front of the Eiffel Tower...yes please!

We were dog tired after hiking around Paris all day, so we jumped on a bus and headed back to our hotel to freshen up a little before dinner.  Oddly enough, we ended up having dinner at a place called Indiana that served American style food.  We couldn't read the menus anywhere else and didn't want a repeat of the whitebait incident from last week...The food was pretty decent and we recharged a little.  I really wanted to see the Moulin Rouge after dark, so after dinner we walked about a mile to see it.  Very cool!  Too bad it cost 100 euros to see a show!

Moulin Rouge in Paris

We finally headed back to our hotel after walking over 37,000 steps that day (I wore a pedometer).  That is about 15 miles in one day!  We rested up and woke up the next day ready to see more of what Paris had to offer. 

Our hotel room in Paris.

Our first stop in Paris on Thursday was a patisserie for a quick breakfast.  There were so many yummy looking choices...I ended up with a croissant and a maple eclair, yum!

Patisserie selection.

We then headed over to Notre Dame.  I loved the outside of the church, especially the gargoyles.  They reached out at least a couple feet, the whole building was really impressive.

The back of Notre Dame.

Inside of Notre Dame

Trisha in front of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

Beautiful stained glass window at Notre Dame

After touring Notre Dame we headed out to look for some lunch and a nice place to sit outside since the weather was so perfect.  We stumbled across a beautiful park with plenty of outdoor seating.  We ended up spending the rest of our time in Paris just lounging and enjoying the views, a perfect way to end our trip!

Beautiful park in the center of Paris

Josh lounging :)

Trish and I enjoying the park and the sun!

A view from the park.

I would absolutely recommend a trip to Paris.  I wish we would have had more time to explore and more opportunities to use the French words we learned.  Hopefully, we will get the chance to go back again someday! 

I'll post another blog in a few days about our trip to Stonehenge and showing Trish around London.  Fun stuff!

Au Revoir!  Rachel

St. Patrick's Day

This week was pretty uneventful for Josh and I.  We didn't have any major plans except to go out on St. Patrick's Day to a beer tasting event. 

The beer tasting was at a place called The Distiller's in Hammersmith, which is an area of London we hadn't been to yet (there are so many areas we haven't seen!)

The Distiller's Pub

 The pub was really nice inside and seemed to be a popular place with the locals.  There were rugby games playing on the TV's and a lot of happy St. Patrick's day celebrants.  The beer tasting event was upstairs in a room that was very cozy and warm...great for the drizzly rainy day we had.

The upstairs room at the Distiller's

We were given tickets for six different kind of English beers and papers that gave us lists of how to rate the beers.  We rated color, head, lacing, palate and finish.  The lady that was running the tasting gave us directions on how to smell and taste the beer...very much like how it is done in wine tasting.  The first few beers were pretty bitter ales that were not to our liking.

Josh smelling his beer :)

 Josh and I decided to get a snack to curb the flavors and decided on hummus and pita bread.  Josh went down to the bar to order but because it was St. Patrick's day, their regular menu was not available and Josh had to pick an appetizer on the fly without really knowing what he was ordering.
And this is what we got...

Mmmm...bait.

 

Yes, those are tiny fish with eyes!  On the menu it is called "White Fish Bait".  Josh thought he had ordered some kind of deep fried fish cake...yikes.  The little fish tasted sort of like fish sticks, but it was hard to get past the eyes and fins and scales and knowing we were eating the insides...

Josh and his little fishy :)

Needless to say, we did not clean our plate!  We had a few more beers to try and I picked a few that I really liked.  One was called N1 Wheat and the other Clockwork Orange (a dark beer similar to Guinness). 

Josh and I at the beer tasting.

After the tasting was over, Josh and I decided to take a walk along the Thames and find a place for dinner.  I still had fishy taste in my mouth and wanted to get rid of it! 

Bridge across the Thames...water is really low here.

Rowing team.

There were a lot of rowing teams having practices up and down the river and it was interesting to watch.  It was a nice way to spend St. Patrick's day and I will never forget that plate of fish!

I am so excited for this upcoming week!  Trisha will be flying in on Wednesday and they it is off to Paris on Thursday!  I'm looking forward to showing Trisha around London!

Until next week, Rachel

This week in pictures...

Josh and I have had another busy and fun week here in London.  We kicked the week off with a rock climbing "taster" session at The Castle Climbing Center.  The building that houses the climbing center truly looks like a castle!  "The Castle" was built as a water pumping station back in the Victorian era...

The Castle Rock Climbing Center

...and is now used as a place for climbers to practice their skills.  Josh and I were a little dubious when we first entered the building.  It literally smelled like sweat and feet!  I suppose we got desensitized to the smell though, because we ended up having a great time.  I am somewhat afraid of heights and I was very nervous about climbing up the walls, even if I was attached to a rope!

Josh practicing going horizontally on a short wall.

Me ready to attack a wall!  So nervous!

Can you see me way up there?  I made it!

Josh on the same wall.

I would definitely climb again.  It was fun and it was a great workout!  My arms and legs were sore until Wednesday!

On Tuesday, Josh went out with some of his old coworkers from Expedia in Springfield.  They were in London for a conference.  He had a great time bar hopping with his buddies and showing them around the Islington area.

I had a Nanny interview on Thursday morning with a very nice American lady (who sounds British).  She has been living in London for about 10 years.  Her husband is British and they have two adorable kids, a 2 1/2 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.  We had a fantastic conversation that lasted nearly two hours!  I am meeting the kids next Tuesday and hope to start working with them in the near future.

On Friday, I didn't really have much to do at home.  I have been wanting to try to "upcycle" a few shirts of mine, so I got out my trusty sewing machine and got to work.  I ended up making two new shirts out of two old long sleeve shirts that I no longer wore.  I thought they turned out pretty good!

Ruffle tee from an old long sleeve shirt.

Another ruffle tee :)

Friday night, Josh and I went our separate ways.  Josh had a work event at a bowling alley and I was going out with my meetup.com Islington ladies group.  I had a great night and stayed out much later than I thought I would.  First we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Desperadoes.  It was pretty good, but not what I would call Mexican!  I guess it is the British interpretation of Mexican,  ha ha!  I did have a huge, yummy blue margarita.  After dinner we went to a couple different bars which was fun, but the noise level made it difficult to chat.  Still, overall, a very fun night meeting some new ladies in my area of London.

Josh and I had a hard time deciding what to do on Saturday.  It was another beautiful day to be outside and we wanted to ride the Barclay bikes again.  At first, we were going to go to a huge park called Hampstead Heath, but the Barclay bikes are not available that far north.  We finally decided on riding our bikes down the canal path to the river Thames.  We were meeting our Australian friends for dinner down that way later on, so it worked out!

Josh on the canal.

The canal walk.

One of many canal boats...this one selling books!

The canal walk is full of people on bikes and exercising and people walking dogs and babies in prams.  It is an interesting place where graffiti mixes with fancy apartment buildings and canal boats clog up the water.

We stopped along the way to visit the Broadway market in Hackney.

Broadway Market

Mmmm...Lunch!

A food vendor at the Market.

At a park next to the Broadway market.

After having a snack at the Broadway market, Josh and I continued through the canal towards the river.  We ended up at Canary Wharf and promptly started looking for a place to sit down and have a drink!

Canary Wharf

Josh and I at Canary Wharf

Josh and his pink fruity drink :)

Me and my Spanish beer...Estrella (very good!)

Our attempt at a Corona style picture...except I have a claw hand and you can't see Josh's drink! 

After our fortifying beer/fruity drinks, we continued exploring the area we were in.  We came across a church with a cemetery.  I am a sucker for old stone cemeteries, so we went in and explored.

St. Anne's Church

I've never seen a gravestone like this!

Gravestones.

This stone was as tall as me!

After some exploring it was time to go meet up with our Aussie friends for a delicious dinner at the Lahore Kebab House in the Brick Lane area.  The food was amazing!  We haven't seen our Aussie friends for a few weeks, so it was nice to catch up and see how they are fairing in London.  After dinner we took a walk down Brick Lane and found a pub to have a few more drinks in.  It was a great night ending with a random guy playing his guitar and singing for everyone on the tube!  

Random tube picture :)