Day 10: London, England (our last day in Europe!)

Today was Easter Sunday, and we started the day by visiting the Tower of London (the first picture on this blog). I thought we would be able to spend a few hours at the Tower and then visit other sites, but we were at the Tower for most of the day. I did not realize how much there was to see at the Tower of London. We decided to take a tour led by one of the "Yeoman Warders". It was nice to be able to hear all of the stories of the Tower of London. We saw the White Tower, the Bloody Tower, Traitor's Gate, and the Tower Green (where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Sir Thomas More, and Lady Jane Grey were beheaded). We spent a lot of time in line to see the Crown Jewels (very cool!) and an exhibit of Henry VIII's armoury.

After leaving the Tower of London, we went to see Buckingham Palace. We did not get to see the "changing of the guards" but you can see the guards at the back of the lot in front of Buckingham Palace. After Buckingham Palace, we walked down the street to see Picadilly Circus and then over to Knightbridge Drive to see some major shopping areas. I got see Harrods Department Store, but everything was closed because it was Easter Sunday. We definitely want to go back to London...hopefully, for the London Marathon! We were sad because our European journey was finished!

Day 9: London, England

On Saturday morning, we left Paris to take the Eurostar to London, England. The Eurostar (or Chunnel) is a high-speed train that rides under the English Channel. It was one of the best trains that we rode during our trip. They even served us breakfast. We arrived in London and hit the ground running. We wanted to go to Westminster Abbey first because it would be closed on Easter Sunday. However, when we arrived at Westmister Abbey the line was so long we were not able to go in before it closed for the day. We were able to see the outside of it. We had a 1:00 scheduled ride on the London Eye (the ferris wheel that marks the London skyline). We ate lunch and then headed over to the Eye. We saw several famous sites during the walk, including Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings.

Our London Eye ride was amazing! You can see all over London from the top of the ferris wheel. The ride is exactly 30 minutes long, and you have a scheduled time for riding because you have to get on the ferris wheel while the ride is moving! It was raining (of course!), but we were able to see everything from the ride. I was really excited to see Whitehall, the palace of Henry VIII.

After the London Eye, we went to the National Gallery. One of Jeff's favorite paintings is Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG186). He had been waiting all trip to see this painting. We were also able to see several Picasso works and Van Gogh's Sunflowers among others. A nice touch of the National Gallery is admission is free because the City of London wants the public to enjoy and appreciate art.

During our time in London, the city was working on several subway systems (we assumed in preparation for the Olympics). It was not as easy to get around London as we hoped so we had to do a lot of walking. One of the last few pictures is a picture of me as we walked over the London Bridge. The last picture is a view of the London Bridge at night. We took this picture right behind our hotel so you can see how close we were to the Bridge.

Day 8: Paris, France

Our second day in Paris, we decided to go to Cathédrale de Notre-Dame in the morning. Jeff had been to Notre-Dame before, so we did not take as many pictures of the beautiful stain glass windows this time (sorry Big D!) We were able to go inside Notre-Dame, which was very moving. There was a Mass taking place at the time!

After seeing Notre-Dame, we decided to tackle the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to go to the first level to avoid the long lines for the elevator to the higher levels. We still had to wait in a line for the stairs. It was Easter weekend so crowds were expected. The first level gave you a nice view of Paris so I was happy that we did not go to the higher levels.

After the Eiffel Tower, we visited the Place de la Concorde. Place de la Concorde is most notably known as the site of the guilletine of the French Revolution. It is also across the street from the Tuileries, a famous park in Paris. The Palais des Tuileries once stood on its grounds (occupants included Louis XVI and Napoleon). It was burned to the ground in 1871, but the gardens remain. By walking through the Tuileries, you come to the best view of the Louvre. We did visit the Louvre for a few hours. I am embarrased to say that we only spent about 3 hours there. It is so big that you cannot see everything, so we just hit the highlights! We spent most of our time in the main gallery. I was able to get about as close as you can to the Mona Lisa so I captured a bleary picture (because of the glass). After the Louvre, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our trip to London.

The last two pictures on this blog is our view from our hotel room. Because we arrived in Paris a day early, our room at our hotel was not ready. The hotel did not have any rooms available, but one of the penthouse suites. In order to fill the room, the hotel gave us a discount rate and they said we could stay in the room for the next two nights. From our hotel room, we could see the Eiffel Tower and Montmarte. We realized we will never have another view quite like that one again!