Day 19. July 20. London

We started our day at the V&A museum. They gave us an assignment to get together as groups and individually make three patterns inspired from the three museums we went to and then as a group make them cohesive. My first pattern was inspired from a hanging beaded vine and the banister behind it in the V&A. The second patter was inspired from a metal sculpture at the Tate Modern Museum(which we also went to this day). The third was inspired from a mosaic peacock I saw at the British Museum. After we snapped all of our pictures the five of us went to the grocery store. We got tons of food and it came to about L18.00 each. Which we thought was really good. Turns out we didn’t figure things very well. We went through 1 loaf of bread, 1 box of cereal, and most of the yogurt in one day. Needless to say there will be a few more visits to the grocery store before we go home. After that we went back to the flat. Everyone wanted to go to the new Harry Potter movie. I had heard that it was expensive to go and since I’m not an avid Harry Potter reader I decided I didn’t want to go. Brady looked up the prices on the internet and I it was about L7.00. So I decided I might as well go just because we are in London. We decided that we would order the tickets online so we could just get there and get in without waiting in line. I said that we could put it on my card and people could just pay me back. Well Brady was looking at the wrong place. So he ordered the tickets for a movie theater that isn’t even in London. We didn’t find this out until I tried to retrieve the tickets and wasn’t able to. I was a little upset at this point and may have been a little rude to Brady. I was just worried about not getting my money back. But we got it sorted out and I’m getting my money back. Anyway we ended up getting into the right theater just a few minutes late but they gave us great seats so it all worked out. Before we had left our flat to go to the movie everybody decided they wanted to put a Harry Potter scar on their forehead. I refused to participate in this. Lindsey and Ali put them on first and then realized that Harry’s scar isn’t in the middle of his forehead it’s off to one side, so they looks like even bigger fools. Then I put it on the right way on Kait and Brady. While we were on the Tube everyone was looking at them like they were crazy so I played it off like I was taking my special friends to the movie. Right before we got off I said “Okay guys, we’re getting off at the next stop. So hold hands so we won’t get lost.” They didn’t appreciate that. It was a pretty good movie. As we were leaving there was a man standing on a stool and holding a sign that said “Everything is ok”. It was a good end to the night.

Day 18. July 19. London

We woke up to hurry to the Chunnel. We had to go through immigration. Because we are a study abroad but aren’t with a school program over here we were told to say that we are just traveling with friends. Whenever I’m doing something that deals with lying to the law I get a bit nervous. So when the not so cheery immigration man was asking me questions I got a little nervous. I guess my answers passed, but Ali and I were the last in line and when we got through that checkpoint we couldn’t see anyone and got nervous. We found them and got on the train. It was like any other train except you know when it is dark that you happen to be under the English Channel. Anyway, we arrived in London and got on the Tube to get to our flat. Our flat is in South Kensington, which happens to be one of the wealthiest places in the world. People pay millions of pounds to live in this area. So we are lucky that we are where we are. However, If you happen to be coming back to the flat after 11:00 at night then no noise is to be made because if one of the neighbors hear you and take your picture you can be fined thousands of pounds. There is also a rule that after 11 we keep the noise down in our apartment. The people that are above us in our room don’t feel like that rule applies to them. They enjoy singing High School Musical, Legally Blonde, and other musicals, and from what we can tell also try to dance to it as well. When one of them falls through the ceiling I won’t even feel bad. There are 15 of us in the flat. Ali, Lindsey, Kaitlyn, and I are in one room. Linds, and Kait are in twin beds and Ali and I are in a bunk bed. I’m on the top bunk. I feel like a child. Anytime my pinky twitches the bed squeaks. The fifteen of us share 3 bathrooms and 1 kitchen. It’s interesting to say the least. Anyway we got settled in and then we met up as a group and went on a walking tour. We saw Big Ben, West Minster Abbey, The London Eye, and the Queens guard. I love London except it’s been raining and cold (another excuse for shopping though). It is so nice to understand what people are saying and be able to expect people to understand you. Love it! After touring we stopped at what they call a Tesco, it’s like a mini market, and got the essentials for the next day.

Day 17. July 18. Paris

We had free time in the morning so we decided to sleep in. Linds, Kait, and Brady wanted to go the Eiffel Tour but I had just gotten my computer charger (thanks again mom and Bruce) so I wanted to try to catch up on things. So they left and Ally and I worked on our stuff. We met up at a group at 2:00 to take a bus to Fontainebleau. We got there and waited outside for Darrin to get out tickets. When he came out he said it was good thing that we didn’t go in there because there was a very attractive man at the front desk. We spent the remainder of the time trying to sneak a peek but couldn’t figure out where he was. Anyway, we went through and it was beautiful. It was another beautiful château but again it’s hard to take it all in. When we were done touring we met in the courtyard where there was a sorbet stand. I got apricot and it was fabulous! We got back on the bus and went to a huge grocery store where we all got food for a picnic. We went to a picnic area outside of Vaux. We had baguettes, cheese, meet, salad, fruit, crackers, chocolate covered waffles, and a twix! Then we walked over to the chateaux. As we were walking up to it you could see the flicker of candles in the windows. They put them in all of the windows. Usually they line the gardens with candles but it was raining so that didn’t work out. We went through the house. It was really prettyand as you make your way through the rooms it explains the story of Nicholas Fouquet who Louis XIV had arrested. I heard two stories about him. One said that Louiswas just jealous and so he had Nicholas framed and arrested. The other one is that Nicholas was the treasury of state or something and was stealing the money. The gardens were so pretty. They weren’t small by any means but they were small enough that you could really enjoy walking through it. We decided to do a video of us dancing on the steps. Even though it was raining we still had a lot of fun. We got on the bus at 11:30 and got back at 1 and still had to pack. But we got it all done.

This guy freaked me out. He was talking but I still have no idea how.

Day 16. July 17. Paris

We took a train to Versailles for a guided tour. We ended up waiting for our tour guide for a half hour and it was cold. Here is a little precursor to this day. We took some pictures and I’m well aware of the fact that I look terrible. I was not in a good mood, I didn’t look good, and it was cold. I’m really trying to look happy in the pictures but I wasn’t. The pictures are funny simply because they are so terrible.
Anyway, he finally showed up and the first thing I could see was a braided rat tail tucked into his shirt. He made me laugh the whole time. Most of the time I couldn’t even understand what he was saying but I got a few key phrases from him through the tour such as; “You guys wait here and then come in two minutes. I’ll get there before you because (while he’s running away) I’m running.” It doesn’t seem funny but if you could hear the variation of tones as he spoke you would be laughing too. You can visit Ali’s blog to see the video. He was a good time though. As we toured all of the rooms in Versailles it was hard to take in. All of the rooms are so elaborate and detailed. It was all kind of overwhelming. So we headed out to the gardens and walked down to a part of where you can get lunch. The gardens are ridiculously huge. The estate used to be 19,000 acres and now is only 7,000 acres(so pretty small). The story behind Versailles is Louis XIII started coming to Versailles and using it as a hunting lodge in 1624. It continued down the line until in 1682 Louis XIV decided he wanted to rule from Versailles rather than Paris. Another reason why he built it was because he was jealous of places like Fontainebleau and Vaux(which we visit tomorrow). Anyway, he built this extremely huge place and living a lavish life while the rest of the country is suffering. While Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette ruled they were so ignorant. They didn’t realize that people where starving; hence them being beheaded. I guess while they were still with head Marie Antoinette missed her home and countryside so much that he had a huge part of the grounds built as a little village for her to visit every day. It was all over the top. Then we made our way back to Paris and got some amazing pastries! Mm so good!

Day 15. July 16. Paris

We started the day off by getting on a bus and going out to Villa Savoye. It is a modern home built in 1929 by Le Corbusier. He built it around his five points of architecture. So he considers this a perfectly constructed home. I like more of a traditional style but I appreciate the modern style especially considering the time it was built. It also had some furniture that he designed in the home as well. It was fun to see the home and furniture that we’ve learned and read about, but when you actually see it in person you can really appreciate it for what it is. We headed back into Paris after that and it was time for us to eat so we decided it would be fun to go to the restaurant that Philippe Starck designed called Kong. It is a very fun place to eat but very expensive. A hamburger and fries are E17.00. So Ali and I decided to split one. It tasted fabulous! And the ambiance was fabulous. It’s designed with ghost chairs that have geishas on the backs of them and the view from the top of the window is so pretty. I’m glad that we went even though I spent E8.50 on half a burger. After that he headed over to the Musee D’Orsay. It was so much more manageable than the Louvre. My favorites were the Claude Monet and Degas paintings. They were beautiful!