Sign signs everywhere the signs

The best of pictures of signs and things from the trip thus far!! There is a French pun within these signs. Enjoy!!

The Hotel St Jacques

Some of our readers will know that I spent a LOT of time researching hotels in Paris. They all looked equally lovely, so choosing one was tres difficult. I settled on the Hotel St Jacques, on the edge of the Latin Quarter and St. Germain des pres. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Notre Dame is only a few short blocks in one direction, and the Pantheon is a few short blocks in the other direction.

The staff is very accommodating, the hotel is very nicely decorated, and the room is large (for Paris, anyway). So I am very happy with our choice. Well done, Lizzie!

P.S.-- The hotel was used in the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn movie Charade, so that influenced my choice more than a little bit!!
Enjoy photos:

Ahhh... Paris

I know I haven't written in a while (I SO need to catch up), but Lizzie and I made it to Paris on the Eurostar with no problems whatsoever. I fell asleep in England and woke up in France when Lizzie poked me to let me know that we were in Paris. The French Countryside looks an awful lot like the country towns in San Joaquin County on the way to Los Angeles... though the big difference is that it's super cute in France! lol One of the charming things I loved was the fact that you could tell there was a different little town you were looking at by the central church in the middle of the city. It was all so quaint. I spent a lot of time looking out the window and nodding off. My age shows.

I wore my new scarf. Thanks to Posh, I looked very Parisan. Okay... to be fair... I felt all fancy by wearing said scarf. Here's Lizzie (on the left) and I at the Eiffel Tower when we first got there (before the crazy line to take the lift up). The line took about an hour to get through. The line wait was made much better with our discussion with the young military couple with their 3 kids. They were from Jersey, but stationed in Germany. It was their first time to Paris. One of the children told their dad "I have question". He said, "I have an answer." I loved that. I want to use that with Scout when I get home.

I had to call Scout. One, just to talk to her. I'm sure she was on her way to school. She was excited to hear I was in Paris. Two, I wanted to talk to her about her report card. I'm pleased to tell you that she got straight A's and told me one of her comments was that she was good role model for other students.

Paris is windy and cold. Very... very cold. It's much cooler in here than it was in London. You can only imagine how cold it was on the top levels of the Eiffel Tower. It. Was. Cold. Truth be told, I am scared out of my gourd of heights. But, when am I going to go up the elevator again? When? So, I suffered for my art. Here I am cold and scared. I ran off away from the side right after the pictures were taken. Lizzie was fearless. I am a scaredy cat. I assure you that I will post again soon.

Paris is a magnificent city... and it's a dream come true. That would be why I look so happy... even at the peak of my fear.

xoxo Emma

Bonjour!

We made it! We are in Paris now. We said goodbye to the London flat this morning at 6:45 a.m. and took a taxi to St Pancras rail station. (No more lugging heavy bags for us... strictly taxis from here on out). It's 10:30 a.m. here now, and we're going to have a bite to eat and then try to hit as many of the sights as we can today. Notre Dame is right down the street. Our room is lovely. We'll try to get photos up.

But until then, enjoy the photos we took of the London flat before we departed.

P.S. Keys in Europe are freakin adorable.
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Solo day/Lizzie

Today, our last day in the UK, Emma and I went our separate ways. While she stayed here in London, I went for a day trip to Windsor. I'll let her tell about her adventures. For my part, I had the most amazing day.

After a week in London, I felt very confident going off on my own. The transportation system here is fantastic. Once you get used to it, you feel like you can go anywhere. (Thanks to Lloyd for that bit of advice, and the maps-- we're wearing out the bus map you gave us). So I took the tube back to Waterloo Station, and then a train out to Windsor. Let me just say that the town of Windsor is (so far) the most adorable town I've ever seen. Tiny shops and restaurants line the street that winds around the base of the Castle, which completely dominates the landscape. I'm always worried that I'll have trouble finding the attraction once I get off the tube/train. Mostly I haven't had that problem (with the glaring exception of the British Museum). With Hampton Court and Windsor Castle, you see them as soon as you alight from the train.

I had very spiritual experiences at the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. I was fascinated by Hampton Court. But I think that Windsor Castle was my favorite. It is the largest and oldest continually inhabited royal palace in the world. Unlike Hampton Court, which ceased to be an inhabited palace centuries ago, Windsor is one of the Queen's main residences (along with Buckingham Palace and Balmoral). In fact, when I approached the Castle I noticed that the royal standard was flying over the Round Tower, indicating that the Queen was in residence today.

Like the Tower of London , Windsor was initially built by William the Conqueror following the Norman Invasion of 1066. It has been continuously added to and improved upon by various monarchs over the centuries, but unlike Hampton Court it doesn't look like a mash-up of architectural styles. The Chapel of St George is like a miniature version of Westminster Abbey, and next to Wesminster has the greatest number of royal tombs including most of the Georges, and a (surprisingly) simple stone slab on the floor marking the resting place of King Henry VIII, his favorite wife, Jane Seymour, and King Charles I (with, I'm assuming, his head).

The state apartments are fascinating. I realize that not everyone is as interested-- some would say obsessed-- with the monarchy as I am, but it was very cool to be standing in the same rooms that are used by the Queen for state functions. Speaking of my royal obsession, I'm such a nerd that I actually purchased a "Magnetic Monarchs" set at one of the gift shops. Yes, little magnets of each monarch for me to put on my fridge.

After leaving the Castle. I stopped at an adorable little restaurant in Windsor called the Crooked House of Windsor for afternoon tea. (If you want to know why it's called that, see the photo). In a completely surreal moment, I sat there drinking tea and eating scones while the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack played on the sound system (??!!) I couldn't help thinking how bizarre it was to nosh on finger sandwiches and think about Zed bringing out The Gimp.

After tea I encountered the only bad weather of the whole trip, so far. It poured. So I decided to call it a day, and made my way back to the train station. The weather cleared up by the time I got back to London, so I made one more trip around Westminster to hear Big Ben toll.

I felt tremendously independent, traveling by myself. If it weren't for the fact that we have to get up before dawn tomorrow to head out for France, I would stay up writing more. But I must off to bed.

~Lizzie~

London pop culture slam

Sunday afternoon was spent in pursuit of pop culture photo ops. We started out the day early, on the bus out to Tufnell Park in Islington. There used to be a show on the BBC a number of years ago called "Spaced," with Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (pre-Shaun of the Dead days), and Emma wanted to see the house that was used in the show. After a bit of a walk we found the house. No sighting of Colin the dog...

Then on to Abbey Road, the official Mecca pilgrimage of Beatle fans. Yes, I walked the walk. I didn't get to Liverpool this trip, so a photo of the famous crosswalk was a must. People who live in the area must seriously hate tourists, beause fans will bring traffic to a screeching halt to get a coveted photo-- and it is a very busy intersection. There is a white wall outside Abbey Road Studios where fans write brief messages, or just their names.

We too left our mark:


Afterwards we tried to go to the Orangery at Kensington Palace for afternoon tea, but we hadn't reckoned that Sunday was Mothering Day in the UK, so the line was out the door. On to Harrod's then... I'll let Emma cover that one. Let's just say some pounds were spent.

~Lizzie~

Hampton Court Palace- Saturday

Saturday was a day trip to Hampton Court, which is located about 40 minutes outside of London in Surrey. We took the Tube to Waterloo station, and then bought tickets on a train out to Surrey.

Hampton Court is most famous for being one of the favorite residences of Henry VIII. It was built by his chief adviser, Cardinal Wolsey, and was such a grand residence that it became even more opulent than any of Henry's own palaces. When the Cardinal realized how the King coveted the palace, he gave it to Henry. Kind of a dubious gift, I guess, since technically the king owned everything anyway.












Though I'm not much of a student of architecture, Hampton Court is very fascinating because of the way that two vastly different architectural styles were merged. After the Glorious Revolution in the 17th Century (when the Catholic king James II was replaced by William and Mary) the new monarchs decided to turn Hampton Court, which was crumbling with disuse, into a Versailles-like palace. They tore down half of the old Tudor-style building, and built a new addition to the palace in a Greek-revival style. So one half of the palace is in old red brick, and the other half is in white stone with colonnades and pillars.

There are four main sections to the palace now: the old Tudor section, the King's Apartments (belonging to William III aka "William of Orange"), the Queen's Apartments (belonging to his wife, Queen Mary II), and the Georgian Apartments (belonging to King George II and his family). I have many, many books about the Tudors, but my knowledge of the history after 1600 is kind of spotty, so I learned a great deal about the later Stuarts and the Hanovers.

Unfortunately we spent so much time taking the different tours of the palace, that by the time we made it outside to the gardens they had closed the maze. Hampton Court has a world-famous hedge maze, so it was a little disappointing to have missed it. Another disappointment is that all of the Royal palaces that have some connection with Henry VIII are preparing exhibits to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his reign... and most of those exhibits open in April/May.

~Lizzie~