portobello mushrooms.

mushrooms? not really. but it is called portobello road! 

back when i was on the telly (from my current book, thanks hilary :) one day). which mean, when i was happy - i.e. in london. 

i am happy, just london was so fun!

anyway. 

last day in london, after finals, we had a few hours to finish up our time there and hilary and i headed back to the notting hill tube stop and portobello road. 

cute shops and little homes. 

and of course... gelato mio. he he. it was so good!

we are in in hawkshead. and will be heading to edinburgh tomorrow. 

i can't believe that this 7 weeks is just coming to a close. can you?

but... i am totally thrilled i can hardly sleep at night, to get to africa and be with my family! 

la galleria.

our last day in paris was spent with a little sleeping in and heading to the gallery malls at lafayette. 


i've seen quite a few malls in my time, but this was the biggest by far. it was seven levels (i think?) and full of clothes, shoes, scarves, hats, purses, etc... 
all of the shops were connected. in some shops, there was maybe a small wall separating the shops but you had to be very careful if you were buying anything! a lot of the shops were designer and quite pricey. but it was still fun to look around! 


i purchased these bad boys (totally european right?):

hilary and i met back up with the group and we were off to catch our train back to london. the trip to paris was so quick! we only caught a glimpse of what was really there. but with what i saw, i was in love. it was nice to experience something other than london and to really have to figure things out on our own in a place we had never been before.

but once we were on the train heading back, i felt like i was going home. granted, no home cooking and abnormal faucets. back to frosties & milk and frozen meals. i was definitely spoiled by the kensington area and the things i was familiar with. 

but isn't that what it's all about? learning and realizing that what you have is the BEST!

it's painted gold!

the trek to versailles started bright and early. we took a quick stop at a bakery for AMAZING croissants and other baked goods. best baked goods ever.

arriving at versailles, I didn’t know what to expect. Once we walked up and saw the BIGGEST PALACE I have ever seen, i knew what to expect! holy crap.

the gates, the trimming, the handles, were all adorned with gold. it was insane! no wonder louis the 14th spent all of england’s money on the palace. but look at it now!

i loved the colored tapestries all over the walls!

this shirt may or may not have shrunk in the wash.

my new sleeping quarters. jokes only.

it was nice and sunny towards the end.

i am so glad we went to this. it was one of my favorite parts of paris as well. 

the inside took us a couple hours to get through but we weren’t even close to being done. the gardens were next. they went on for miles. i guess the main fountain is an optical illusion. because the gardens are so lengthy, the pool at the back is actually quite a bit shorter than the front one, to appear that, as a whole, the whole pool is symmetrical.

the designes of the bushes, the set up, the amount of land these gardens take up was shocking. i have no idea how much the upkeep costs, i don’t think  I want to know! if all of the fountains in the gardens were to be going at the same time, it would use up all of the water that paris uses in one day!

the pool.

marie antoinette's place.

a serious amount of fish. 

had to try a macaroon.

we traveled back to paris and hurried to the louvre again to check out some famous works!

and onto the city of trash, lights, and croissants.

a full day in paris, is one full day, no doubt.

we had really, only two full days to do all the sightseeing that can take weeks to see, if you have the time. afterall, three days is barely enough time to go through the enormous louvre museum!

we had a wonderful adventure the previous night but we were ready to get going the next day. our original plan was to go to versailles on thursday which takes a few hours to get there, done, and back. but we didn’t have our directions planned yet and decided to see the sights in paris and go to versailles on friday.

arc de triomphe was first on the list. this IS where the tour de france rides through in the final stretch towards the finish line. we missed this by two days! how unfortunate. paris is the place for history and TONS of people. Of course all of the sights we wanted to see were places that about 100,000 other people wanted to see too.

okay, these guys were everywhere. and all they did was stand there. 

and expect money? seriously?

the orangery museum could very well have been one of my favorite places in paris. it was a smaller museum but it contained the works of monet, montague, picasso, cezanne, renoir, rousseau, and more!

one section i particularly loved. white walls covered in  20 foot long paintings of willow trees and outside landscapes. it was simple, yet satisfying (name the movie?? okay, lion king). i thought it was beautiful.

we purchased the museum pass which was cheaper than paying the entrance fee for each venue. this pass was amazing! it held the keys to almost every museum there in paris. we just didn’t have the extra day to get things done.

we walked down the biggest shopping street in paris, champs elyssees. it was full of the big name designers. chanel, louis vuitton, dolce & gabanna.

we arrived at the louvre and this was full things to do. a huge ferris wheel, small street vendors, food shops. you get it.

we explored these and went through to the swarm of peeps going to the louvre. this place was insane. we looked from a distance at everyone. i never knew so many people could gather at one place!

pictures were needed, of course. as hilary and i walked up to get some closer shots, we saw two guys and they asked about our cameras. hilary has  a Nikon and i have a Canon. the man that spoke to us had a Nikon and that sparked our conversation. turns out, he thinks that Mormons are “the nicest people on Earth” and he is the author of the blog stuck in customs, the most popular travel blog in the world. he and the man he was with travel the world with their wives taking pictures. each day, they post a new picture of the places they have been. absolutely amazing. 

i still am in awe of how extremely large the louvre is. three wings the branched out into almost a collge campus look from the outside. each wing had at least four levels and smaller levels in between. every piece of art you can imagine, i swear. i wonder how much that museum is worth!

it was incredible.

doing my part for toms!

us with trey.

she was smaller than i expected. 

blurry, but i was there!

the walking was wearing on us, it was a lot of walking! 

we stopped by notre dame.

look at those flying buttresses! 

and on to the pantheon, a must see.

i apologize for all of the pictures, but like i said, it was a long and eventful day! 

day one in paris equals tired and successful.