One of these days, I'll let you know what we did during our brief visit to Paris. In the meantime, I did finally upload some photos to my Picasa account.

 

Paris - September 2011

London - September 2011

Wednesday we did an organized tour to visit Warwick Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare), and Oxford University. First of all, I will say, not a huge fan of the organized tour. There isn't really time to explore any of the places, because within an hour of arriving, it's time to get back on the bus and move on. I was somewhat prepared for this though. Our first stop on the tour was Warwick Castle. I was a little disappointed in this visit. We had roughly an hour at the castle, which just was not enough time to explore and get good photos. We also missed out on the great view of the castle from the island on the back side because we were there during the noon launch of the trebuchet. In order to prepare for that, they blocked off access to the island, and the launch took so long, we had to bolt back to the bus as soon as it was over. So kind of cool to visit, but wish we had more time.

The next stop was Stratford-Upon-Avon. Most of the tour bus went to a lunch organized by the tour company. We did not participate in this. The menu selections were limited, and given that I've got some limitations, I figured it would be best to do our own thing. I'm so glad we did. We got some yummy fish and chips at a little local place, and had a little bit of time to roam around before meeting back up with the tour group for a trip through the home where Shakespeare was born. I got some nice photos of the back and front of the house (no photos allowed inside). Unfortunately, just as I was getting my last picture of the house and about to head to the bus, I got stung by a yellow jacket (they call them wasps there). Now, I don't know if I'm allergic to wasps/yellow jackets/etc., because up until Wednesday, I'd avoided being stung. Daniel ran over to the bus to let them know what had happened and that I might need a few extra minutes. Meanwhile, I downed 2 Benadryl and went in search of ice. The first restaurant had none. Seriously?!? I managed to find some in a coffee/tea shop of all places. I was pretty anxious for the first hour or two after the sting, but after a couple of hours went by and my only issues were some local swelling on my hand and some pain, I relaxed a bit.

The final stop for the trip was at Oxford University, specifically to Christ Church College. I got a kick out of this part of the tour. As soon as we walked into the college, I instantly recognized the corridors as those that the kids walked through in the first couple of Harry Potter movies. As we then headed to the college's hall, we ended up at another spot I recognized. The stairs leading up to the hall are the steps that were used to film the scene in the first Potter movie when the kids first arrive at Hogwarts and are greeted by Professor McGonnogal. To cool! We also got to walk through the hall, which inspired the look of the great hall in the Potter films. Obviously there was no enchanted ceiling, but you can see the similarities.

Once we got back to London, we decided to go out and visit some of the landmarks to see them lit up at night. This was partly to keep me awake, since I had 50 mg of Benadryl in me, which means if I'm not moving, I'm asleep. We went and checked out Marble Arch, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. It was drizzling rain, so some of the pictures have water spots on them, but they still came out ok I think.

Need to get to bed, but wanted to post a few pics from Thursday. We went to see a few things we hadn't seen, took a quick trip through Harrod's, and then had to leave London. Once we got to Paris, we visited the Eiffel Tower for nightime photos. Awesome!! Some of the pics are from Hyde Park, which I will write more about later.

Tuesday ended up being Church Day. We started out at Westminster Abbey, and took advantage of the audio tour that was included in admission. I really enjoyed having the audio guide and being able to wander through the church, taking everything in at my own pace. I couldn't take any photos inside the church, but that's ok. Photos wouldn't do it justice. I have never been in anything so old before. It just seems to ooze history. After Westminster, we decided to go to St. Paul's. They also had an audio tour available that was included with admission. I thought it was pretty neat that they were making use of iPods for their audio tour. St. Paul's was also amazing, especially the mosaics. Once again, no photos of the inside, as photography is not allowed, but I doubt a photo would do justice to it. I think that St. Paul's is probably more beautiful, but I really like Westminster a little better. There's just something about being in a church that has been around for that long.

Now, originally on Tuesday, Daniel was going to catch up with a friend of his that lives in London, but that fell through, so we dropped by the TKTS booth in Leicester Square and got a couple of tickets for Tuesday night's performance of Wicked. Wicked was wonderful, as usual (I've now seen it 5 times I think). I didn't notice anything all that different from the US version of the show. If you haven't seen Wicked before, you really must!

Given the difficulty involved in posting from here, I'm skipping the pictures tonight. As a matter of fact, I haven't even pulled them off the camera to look at them today. This morning we visited Buckingham Palace. I was hoping to have tea with the Queen, but she wasn't home. ;) The State Rooms are absolutely beautiful. I don't think I've ever been in any place quite like that before. Definitely was worth the trip, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone visiting London in August and September when the palace is open to the public. As part of the tour, we got to see a part of the royal Faberge collection, which included lots of picture frames, animals, some eggs, and other random objects. They were all beautiful pieces and the level of detail was incredible to see. Another highlight of the tour was Kate Middleton's (excuse me, the Dutchess of Cambridge's) wedding gown. Even more beautiful in person that it was on television.

After lunch we headed to the Tower of London. We went on a tour with a Yeoman Warder to get some history on the place. I will have to do some more reading, as a lot of what she told us was very interesting and I'd like to know more. No visit to the Tower of London is complete without going to see the Crown Jewels, so of course we did that. And of course I enjoyed seeing them...I mean come on, what girl doesn't love seeing lots of glittery jewels? :) We spent some time wandering around Tower of London and then decided to take a breather for a little bit before going to the theater. I know my feet were killing me and I think Daniel needed a break as well.

We finished off the day seeing Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. Which, of course, was lovely. There were parts I did not remember, and the ones I did remember lived up to my expectations. I'm so glad I got a chance to see the show again. I think I appreciate it so much more than I did the first time I saw it when I was about 17.

I'm not entirely sure what we are doing tomorrow. So far, the only rain we had was a little bit on Sunday while at Wimbledon. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and windy, so will try to do indoor things. Perhaps Westminster Abbey and a return trip to the British Museum, as we barely scratched the surface there yesterday. We'll see. Maybe tomorrow I'll get more motivated and post some pictures.

 

We started today with a trip out to the All England Lawn Tennis Club. I've been watching Wimbledon most of my life and it's always been my favorite Grand Slam tourney, so for me, my first trip to London would not be complete without a trip out to Wimbledon. We did the tour, which meant I got to visit Henman Hill (or Murray Mound as they are starting to call it now), Number 1 Court, one of the official press rooms, and of course, Centre Court. It was so cool to sit in the stands and see in person the court where so many champions have played. I have got to come back for The Championships sometime. Interesting fact: the scores from the final men's and women's matches each stay up on one of the scoreboards on the court until the first match begins for the next year's tournament. I didn't care for the result up there right now. :)

Once we left Wimbledon, we made our way back to London and since it was kind of rainy, decided to go to the British Museum for a little bit. We only had an hour and a half before closing, so only got to see a few things. We'll probably go back in a couple of days. Walked through the Egypt section and saw all the mummies and went to see the Rosetta Stone. However, the thing that most caught my attention, thanks to the careers of my parents, was a display to depict healthcare in Britain. It was a display that showed the medications taken by a man and a woman throughout their life. It was made of pills in individual nylon pockets making up a blanket/scroll of sorts. Each "blanket" contained over 14,000 pills, which is the estimated average number of pills taken by British people throughout their lives. Fascinating to look at.

We finished the day by going to King's Cross Station and looking for Platform 9 3/4. Due to all of the construction at King's Cross, I had almost as much difficulty finding it as Harry did his first time going to Hogwarts. They've now moved it outside the station, near platform 1 I think. So I guess it's kind of Platform 0 3/4 now.

We got a pretty late start yesterday, since our room was not ready when we arrived (it wasn't ready when they said it would be either, but we eventually got in). We sorted out phone service for our time in London and Paris, got some lunch, grabbed showers and fresh clothes, and then went out for a bit. We started out at Big Ben and Parliament. Very impressive. Since it was just the other side of the Westminster Bridge, we decided to take a ride on the London Eye. Definitely enjoyed that experience. I love anything that lets me get up high for a bird's eye view!

...you know how the song goes. Tomorrow after work I'll be leaving on a jet plane bound for the UK. We've got a lot planned for the trip. We will be visiting Wimbledon and touring the All England Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday. I am super excited about getting to see Centre Court in person, even if there is no tennis action going on. Funnily enough, there will be pro tennis action going on at another Grand Slam venue while I'm visiting the All England Club, as the US Open is happening right now in New York. Also on the agenda while in London: Buckingham Palace, Les Miserables, a day trip to visit Oxford, Warwick Castle and a few other places, and I'm sure all the other usual London sites like Tower of London and the Crown Jewels, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, etc. Thursday we'll hop on a train and go to Paris for the last few days of the trip. No firm plans for there just yet. I mostly wanted to go to see the Eiffel Tower since it's so easy to get to Paris from London. We'll have 2 days to spend in Paris, plus a 3rd day that we'll spend visiting Disneyland Paris. What can I say...I'm a Disney fan.

Hopefully finding internet access won't be too difficult and I'll be able to blog and post pictures along the way.

Due to some issues not completely under my control, I ended up with some extra vacation time to use in 2011. Figured I might as well use it to go somewhere new and exciting. I just got manager approval this week to take a week off in early September, so looks like it's time to start planning my next trip outside of the country. Other than a trip over the border to Ontario, which I don't really count since I didn't get a stamp in my passport, I haven't been out of the US since my first international trip back in 2008. So, I think it's time to flee the country for a few days. This time I'm going to London and Paris. It'll be a 10 day trip, 6 of which will be in London, 3.25 will be in Paris, and the last part of a day will be the return trip. Can't wait!!

Friday I went to Disneyland for the first time. The thing that sticks in my head the most is walking down Main Street U.S.A., getting to the point that you could see the castle and thinking "That is the castle?!?". Having gone to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World off and on my whole life, Sleeping Beauty Castle seemed so much smaller than Cinderella Castle. Turns out it is. Sleeping Beauty Castle is 77 feet tall, Cinderella Castle is 189 feet tall. Sleeping Beauty, hate to say it, but your castle is a disappointment compared to Cinderella's! :)

Sleeping Beauty Castle - Disneyland, Anaheim, CA (10/29/2010)

Cinderella Castle - Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, FL (05/12/2009)