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.

i know where big ben is!

today was a sprinkly, long, fun-filled day! classes weren't held today so it was a free day for us to do whatever we would like to do!

kathryn, chrisse, hilary, suzanne and i had all planned to go to central london and see the things there. it was nice to sleep in a little bit and not stress about getting to school and everything! 

1. was the changing of the guards at buckingham palace! we walked through green park to get to the palace. when we walked out of the park gates, i only saw swarms of people. all along the street, the statue in the roundabout part, lining the fences of the palace. it was crazy. we were even there 30 minutes early! we decided to go further down so we could have a clear view for pictures. 

the first thing i heard was the stomping of the guards and the drums. it was amazing to see them come up the street. my eye was caught on the two beautiful horses with policemen riding. these horses were so beautiful. huge mares and gorgeous. i couldn't get over it! we weren't close enough to see the actual changing of the guards process but i got some pictures of what i wanted to see. 

we walked further down to see the spencer house. the house where princess diana grew up. it was fenced off but seemed very pretty from just the outside. 

even further down, we saw more guards standing in their little poses. i was so excited because i wanted to go up to them and make them laugh and break their concentration. typical me, right?

well, i succeeded! i had my camera out and started taking pictures and laughing a little bit and hilary and i broke the two guards. they smirked and i could tell they were frustrated. as we were leaving, i took one last picture and the guard had his hands at his side but popped his middle finger out against his leg. flipping us off! i didn't see it but hilary did. awesome! 

the palace.

got him!

these horses were so beautiful. the guard was chatting with us.

the spencer house:

green park.

the hard rock cafe was sounding pretty appealing for lunch! there was a 30 minute wait (we decided, most likely planned so customers will head over the gift shop and by overly expensive t-shirts!). we waited and went down to "the vault" where some hard rock memorabilia was stored! it was smaller than i  thought it would be, but so so cool!

pictures of the stars in the hard rock.

andrew would love this.

oh jimi.

original beatles lyrics.

and this too for andrew.

burgers, don't judge me. most american thing i have had so far. 

and it was wonderful! 

kathryn, hilary, me, chrisse, suzanne.

we took the tube over to the palace of westminster, the london eye, and big ben area. the weather wasn't as cooperative as we would have hoped so i didn't take as many pictures as normal!

big ben.

bad weather ruined this!

we didn't walk around long in the sleet and rain but we went straight to the imperial war museum (you should check out that link, i think there are some pictures there!) which was free. and was, i think, the best thing i have seen so far. my dad would have loved it! they even had little cubbies to store your things! points for the museum. 

as soon as you walked in, planes, tanks, and missiles filled the room. it was amazing. all of these are part of the museums collection. 

inside, was also a very informative and, i guess sad is the word? holocaust exhibit. it went through the timeline of the germans taking over poland and all the events that took place. so much information was included in that and it was set up very nicely. we were in the museum for over three hours! 

these were the missile shells, as tall as me!

i laugh every time i see this. 

this museum is a must see in london. i'm glad we went! eight and a half hours later, we arrived back at flat 2. it was a long day, but so totally worth it. 

in honor of jane austen, pride & prejudice is playing here in the living room. 

cheers!