After a little (spring) break: Guess who's back?

And so begins the “I’m sorry I haven’t updated my blog in weeks post.” Let’s just say I took a little (spring) break!

Since there is no way I believe I’m going be able to cover about 2 months worth of posts from Sheffield and travelling, I have decided to just stick with making this post about my 3-week Easter vacation: Euro-tour 2010.

March 19 and 20- Day 1 and 2- London Calling
Spring break (or the trip of a lifetime!) began with meeting my mom in London town for 3 days. It was really great to be able to show my mom a bit of the world where I’m living for four months. [Insert: DEFINITELY tried to find Platform 9 ¾ after I arrived in King’s Cross... it was DEFINITELY boarded up: should’ve used “alohamora!”]

The first night we were there, we saw the musical “Wicked,” an amazing performance of vocal and dance talent! Mom was a trooper as she pushed through very little sleep on her overnight flight to stay awake for the show. The next day we did our own little walking tour around Londontown with stops at Buckingham Palace (sadly, no guards dressed in red as the queen was not in residence!), Big Ben, Westminster, and the London Eye. The weather was stereotypically overcast and rainy, but it was still great to finally see the place most people assume I’m studying in. Now, if only I could find that acceptance letter to London University...

INSERT: I LOVE THE LONDON TUBE! Yes, it’s crowded at rush hour; yes, it’s not so nice with heavy luggage; Ok, I’ll give it to you that it’s kind of expensive; Oh darn, I forgot they shut it down every weekend to do engineering work on it... BUT IT’S SO INCREDIBLE! Really, the tube network is so vast that it can really get you anywhere you need to go in London, which is absolutely amazing.

March 21- Day 3- Londontown
The following day, we went on one of those big bus tours of the city: good choice as the sun was finally shinning (wait, what?!?) though it was still quite cold. We got off the Tower of London- which is home to the Crown Jewels and the site where many of King Henry VIII's wives were beheaded, including Anne Boleyn. We also chose to walk around a bit of Regent’s Park and ran into a former Dookie- thank God this was before the NCAA Championship this year.





































March 22-Day 4- "We'll always have PARIS!"
After 3 great days in a city I could see myself living/working in someday, Mom and I hoped on the Eurostar for 4 days in the most romantic city on earth: Paris! We had the immense pleasure of meeting Kris: a 2-year-old Indian boy who was convinced we were going to India on the train. “No Kris, India AFTER Euro Disney!”

Wait a minute: It seems that my emphasis is on the wrong word, let me try again. “INDIA after EURODISNEY!” Who IS this kid? He has more culture in his 2 years of life than I had in almost 20 of mine, haha.

After arriving to Paris, mom and I quickly tossed our stuff down and set out into the beautiful 18 degree weather (60’s for you Farenheighters) to explore Paris. We accidentally ended up walking the wrong way (twice) but we finally managed to find our way to the Luxembourg Gardens and eventually to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was great, except this is where we experience the first of many, many peddlers begging for money. Paris was by far the worst city for peddlers and it was

actually something I grew to really dislike about our stay there.



March 23-Day 5-
The following day was what I like to call our “day of fails.” After failing to get into the Louvre (it’s closed on Tuesday, for future reference), we hopped on (and off) a bus tour of Paris. We decided we would return to the Notre Dame- where we had missed climbing to the terrace atop it the day before. Upon arriving there, seeing the crowds, and NOT seeing the end of the line for the top deck, we turned around and waited to hop on the bus again. After continuing the bus tour (Musse de Orsay and Concorde- where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded) we stopped at the Arc De Triompe at the end of the Champs de Eylees. That was an amazing sight- though we were not quite sure how to safely get across the traffic... “red-light, green-light anyone?”

We stopped again at the Eiffel Tower, but decided against waiting in the 2 hr + line to get to the top. I was definitely disappointed, but we decided to do a little exploring instead and we came upon the Hotel De Invalides- the home of Napoleon’s tomb! It was an impressive monument: his body inside 4 or 5 caskets consisting of marble, steel, and concrete. The church was built by Louis the XIV and is now home to two of Napoleon’s confidants as well. Finally, we ended this long day with a tour of the Sainte Chappelle- a church with 15 beautiful stained glass windows that depicted books of the Bible. The most impressive piece, however, was this incredible stained glass rose window that had Peter’s interpretation of the Apocalypse. Louis XIV attended this church for weekly mass.

March 24-Day 6-
Imagine: standing above the most, arguably, majestic city in Europe. Imagine: viewing the world from the most, arguably, recognized monument in the world. Imagine: steel beams criss-crossing in every direction from a structure that was built for the World Fair in 1898 and still stands today! Imagine: Tour Eiffel!

Mom and I arrived promptly at 9:15 to be in line for the opening of the Eiffel Tower at 9:30 and were still at least several hundred people deep. But, we stuck out the two hour wait and finally made it to the most coveted tourist attracted in all of Europe! I will never forget seeing Paris from that high- looking down into the well-designed layout of the city and just taking in the knowledge that I was in the Eiffel Tower! It was beyond breathtaking. The structure, the tallest in Paris, stands 324 m (1,063 ft) tall and on a clear day, one can see as far as 68 Km (40 miles!)

We continued our “cliché day” in Paris by hitting the Louvre next. Mom headed for most of the Rembrandt paintings while I ventured to the Egyptian wing where I saw the code of Hammurabi, mummy cases, a Sphinx, headed over the Michelangelo wing, and posed with the sitting Ramses (for all my Tarheels!). We finally made our way to the museum’s most famous piece, the Mona Lisa, and I was more impressed with the painting than I thought I was going to be! It was very crowded, but very cool! We ended the day with Strawberry beers at the The Hippo and took the tram back over to see the Eiffel Tower at night and were lucky enough to get there right as it was lit up for the night display!

March 25-Day 7- Versailles
Mom and I spent the somewhat rainy morning walking and shopping a bit more around Paris, and the afternoon in the incredible palace of Versailles. We went on our own audio-guided walking tour of the amazing home of Louis XIV (I think I’ve heard of this guy before...) and highlights included the Hall of Mirrors, King and Queen’s bedchambers, and stroll in the (unfortunately-unblooming-but-nevertheless-beautiful) gardens of Versailles.
















March 26-Day 8- Brussels
Early the next morning, we said “Au revoir” to Paris and we hopped on another train to Brussels, Belgium. We spent the rest of the day finding our hotel and headed over to a 4 story shopping mall no more than 100 meters from our hotel! We had dinner at this very local, very delicious Italian restaurant: all in all, a good first day :)

March 27- Day 9- "That's a load of (Belgian) Waffle"
Mom and I took another Bus Tour of Brussels and saw the city’s exotic structures built for the World Fair of 1958: the Antomium and Chinese Opera House. The city is home to the headquarters for the European Union and also still has a sitting monarch. We got off the bus tour at the city’s “Grand Place”- a very historical square in the center of the city with somewhat Moorish influence and delicious Belgian chocolate shoppes. We also saw Brussels’ other claim to fame (the statue of the peeing boy) and ate a local delicacy: the Belgian Waffle. We ended Mom’s last night in Europe with a dinner at this unbelievable Thai restaurant.






















I’m going to end my post here as spring break still has another exciting 11 days to go and I don't want to put you on jealousy overload. But, note to come = Florence, Rome,Sevilla!