Darla at Travel Leaders/Suntime Travel: London & Paris 2009

Thursday August 20, 2009

9:00pm we board our flight to London. Not nearly as long or as bad as the flight to Sydney! Kim was accidentally served a kids dinner, at 11:00pm no less! I ate that. It was chicken nuggets and tator tots – not half bad.

Friday August 21st
Arrived London 11:30am. Luggage did not ): By the time we filed a lost luggage claim and got to the hotel – Grosvenor- it was 3:00pm! The hotel lobby is sic! Wow, it’s nice. Room is fine. We immediately left our hotel on foot and walked to & saw:
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben & House of Parliament
London Eye
Westminster Abbey
We got back to the hotel at about 6:00pm. Not a bad little walking tour. Saw a lot and the hotel is in an awesome location. We met our tour guide, Konrad, and the rest of our companions at a 7:00pm welcome reception with drinks and hor de orvers. Then we had dinner – steak and fries. We shopped a little after dinner and were in bed at 10:30pm.

Saturday August 22nd
Woke up at 5:45am. Not bad. I slept all night! Went to see Stonehenge! Pretty cool. Took picture of me and Druid from SWORD: Sacred Warrior Order of Rival Druids. Then we went on to Salsbury that has a very nice cathedral that houses 1 of the 4 Magna Carta’s. Then drove on to Bath and toured the Roman Baths. VERY beautiful city.

Sunday August 23rd
Left Warwick and headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon and toured the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Also saw his wife Anne Hatheways’ house. Saw the cathedral where he is buried. Then went on to Wedgewood and ate lunch and toured the shop and museum. Then it was on to Cheshire and toured the midevil town. Walked along the wall surrounding the town. Then it was on to Port Sunlight for dinner at the Bridge Inn, which has haunted rooms in the basement. On to Liverpool for the night.

Monday August 24th
Toured Liverpool – home of the Beatles! Then went to the lake district: Windamere & Grasmere. Went to York. Had tea and scones. Walked to a huge cathedral called Minster. Went to Evensong in the Cathedral.

Tuesday August 25th
Walked around York. Then drove to Cambridge. Had lunch in a park in Cambridge and then left for London. Had dinner at really nice pub called Alberts. Got back to hotel and walked across the street to see Big Ben and House of Parliament in the dark all lit up. Went to bed for 4:30am wake up call.

Wednesday August 26th
4:30am wake up call came early enough! Off to Paris for 2 nights! We took the Eurostar/Chunnel and arrived Paris at 10:11am. Took the Metro to the hotel, it cost 1.60Euro. Room wasn't ready so we left our luggage and walked to the Eiffle Tower. Took about 10 minutes. From there we bought a 2 day ticket for the BatoBus. 12Euro for 1 day and 16Euro for 2 days. The BatoBus goes down the Seine and you can hop on and hop off at different stops. We went to Notre Dame and went right in and had a escorted tour around the cathredal. Then we hopped back on the BatoBus and went back to the hotel. After a quick nap we walked up the Eiffle Tower again and watched it in dark. It's contstantly lit up at night, but every hour on the hour they have sparkelding lights go off for about 5 minutes. We walked back to our hotel and went to bed (after walking down our hallway with no lights on!)

Thursday August 27th
Woke up at 8:00am and took a shower in the worlds smallest shower! Had breakfast at the hotel and walked to BatoBus and went to the Lourve. 9Euro to get in. Saw the Mona Lisa (as did HUNDREDS of other people!) and the Venus de Milo. Got back on BatoBus and went to the Champs Elysee. Walked up, and up, and up to the Arc de Trimophe. From there we walked to the Tocadero and took pictures of the Eiffle Tower. Then walked back to our hotel and passed out from exhaustion!