Paris: Day 1

We arrived in Paris in the early afternoon. It was odd to leave England. By the end of my time there I'd really started to feel at home (for the first time in my life) in a foreign country. Arriving in another foreign country, especially one that speaks a different language and was so different from the UK, was a little shocking. I had gotten comfortable with living in Europe but I hadn't had to deal with the "different language" part of it. This was all accelerated by the fact that a couple hours previous I'd been in, what had come to feel like, my home and now I was in a totally different culture. I guess Europeans deal with this all the time. A three hour train ride can drop you in another country with a different language, history and culture but a similar trip doesn't get you very far in the states.

After some confusion in getting our metro tickets, we finally made our way to the hotel. The Paris metro is pretty easy to navigate and (for someone as tall as myself) much more comfortable than the London Underground. After a quick breather at the hotel, we started walking to the the Pantheon.

It wasn't too far away and we made our way in without any waiting in line. While there, we bought a Paris Pass. This card gets you into most attractions and allows you to skip the lines and go straight in. Below are a few pictures of the Pantheon. It was a very impressive building. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it. Usually large, ornate churches or temples are centuries old but this was fairly new. I don't think it makes it any less impressive, in fact, it left me wondering why more countries or cities no longer build public works like the Pantheon.





After looking around the Pantheon and the crypts below, we were able to get tickets to the last tour up to the top of the building. They limit the number of people that can go, so we were happy to get on the list. It offered some beautiful views of Paris that you can see below.




After making our way back down, we walked through the nearby Jardin du Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Gardens. It was really beautiful and seemed quintessentially French. There were people lounging and enjoying the sun, performers playing music and people picnicking.



After getting back to the hotel we met up with one of Jamie's friends who had been living in Paris for the past three years. It was nice to have someone who knew their way around to join us on our first night in Paris. She gave us a lot of tips that would prove very useful.

Last Few Days in London

I'm writing this about a month after the fact...

My time in London was quickly coming to an end. I was sad to finish my last couple days of my internship. I had met a lot of really great people and had some really great experiences, but I was really looking forward to seeing my wife, Jamie. My last day at the Embassy was on a Friday, I was preparing to meet Jamie at Victoria Station to begin a whirlwind tour of London and York. Unfortunately she was delayed in leaving the States due to bad weather, so she didn't arrive until a day later than planned. I was really disappointed, particularly because I wanted to visit York; but we just wouldn't have enough time to do everything we had planned.

One good note, however, was that I had already done most of the major sights in London so showing Jamie around was a lot easier than if we didn't know the area, particularly because a lot of the tube lines were down for repairs. We planned to do the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, a Thames River cruise, the Tower of London/London Bridge, the British Museum, the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, and Chinatown...all in three days. Since I've already written about most of these sights, I'll just post a few more pictures and a shorter description covering our few days in London.

After meeting Jamie at the train station we went back to my flat, dropped off her stuff and hopped on the bus to get to the Tower of London (the tube was down for the weekend). We also had to stop and buy some toiletries since the airline lost her luggage. Jamie enjoyed the Tower as much as I had. We managed to do a Beefeater's tour and see the crown jewels and a few of the major parts of the Tower. After the Tower we went to Harrod's, which I had yet to visit during my time in London. Harrod's was really neat to see, but everything was ridiculously expensive. After that we went back towards the Tower Bridge area where we had dinner on the south side of the river. We went to an Argentinian steakhouse called Gaucho. It was really good, perhaps a little pricey but you'll agree that you get a great view! The below picture is the view from the front of the restaurant. From left to right you can see the Gherkin, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and the City Hall.



The next day we made our way to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, then walked to Westminster Abbey. The below picture is a cool view of the Horse Guards Parade (on the left) and the London Eye from St. James Park on the walk to Westminster Abbey.




We grabbed lunch and a beer/cider on the way to the Abbey (below) before doing an audio tour. We then made our way to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Jamie had picked out a couple paintings that she wanted to see so we didn't go through much of the museum. Afterward, we made our way to Covent Garden before meeting friends for dinner in Chinatown.




Our final day in London started with a boat ride from Westminster Pier, across the street from Parliament, to the St. Katherine's Pier next to Tower Bridge. The below two pictures are from the boat trip. From there we made our way to the British Museum. It was my second time there but it could have been the 100th, I still couldn't get enough of it. Jamie really enjoyed it too, although I think the crowds took away from the experience.




Finally, we made our way to Harrod's for Afternoon Tea. We both knew it was really cheesy, and overpriced, but it was still fun to do. I'm glad we did it because we had a really good time. Of course, Jamie enjoyed it a lot. The below picture is of our table with champagne, scones, sandwiches, desserts and tea. You can have as much as you want (except for the champagne) so we ate as much as we could. Our final meal in London was the fish and chips place near my flat, seemed to be a fitting end to our last day in London.




The next day we got a full English breakfast from a nearby cafe before heading to St. Pancras Station where we got on the Eurostar (which was surprisingly fast and comfortable) to Paris. I was sad to leave London, but was looking forward to Paris and eventually getting home for a little rest before starting back at school.

Windsor

On Sunday I decided to do a short day trip from London and settled on Windsor. Since the tube line near my flat was down (again), I had to hop on the bus and make my way to Paddington Station. Direct trains to Windsor leave out of Waterloo, but that would have been too much of a pain to get to so I settled on going to Paddington and making a change at Slough. Trains run every half hour or so, so I didn't even bother looking at the departure times. It didn't take very long to get there; really, the longest part of the trip was waiting at Slough for the train to Windsor.

Windsor is definitely a tourist town, but sometimes that's alright. It makes for a pretty easy day, there are lots of signs directing you where to go and lots of shops and restaurants. There were a lot of nice stores in the facility around the central train station (there are two in Windsor, Riverside and Central), but I'm not really into shopping. I followed the crowds from the train station to the entrance to Windsor Castle. This is one of three official royal residences and has been a home of the royal family for 900 years. They have a pretty fast system in place, so I was able to get my ticket and into the castle pretty quickly. It was expensive (14 pounds for students) but since there isn't much else to do in Windsor I really didn't have a choice.

In all it was probably worth the 14 pounds. The royal family wasn't "in residence" so I was able to tour most of the buildings, with the exception of St. George's Chapel which is closed for services Sundays. I started by wandering around the grounds and stopping at spots to listen to the audio guide. The below photo shows the chapel on the left and the round tower in the center.

After wandering around for a bit I decided to go inside the staterooms. Before entering I snapped the below pictures of the square (it's closed off) where dignitaries and royal guests are greeted.

Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside the staterooms. So I've added the below from a web search. The staterooms are pretty amazing. It's really the only castle I've seen that has been continually modernized and up kept so it doesn't really feel like a museum. I started by viewing part of the royal collection that is on display, which includes drawings by Di Vinci. I then made my way into through the state rooms, some of which you can see below. As you could imagine, they are all decorated in beautiful works of art and historic objects. Pretty much fit what you would picture a royal palace to look like.

This is one of the few castles or palaces that I've been to that is actually lived in. It always strikes me, in an age where every family seems to move at least a few times in their lives it would be pretty amazing to live in your families home for hundreds of years. As if to drive home that fact, portraits of past generations of your family line the walls.



The final picture is of the Round Tower at the heart of Windsor Palace.

After leaving the Palace I walked towards Eton College. It's a nice walk along all the shops on High Street. It's not too far away but I was kind of worn out from my already long weekend. After looking around a bit I decided not to buy a ticket and made my way back to the train station.

In all it was a nice day trip. Very quick and easy to get to, and not too overwhelming. I probably wouldn't have gone if it was a long way from London but I figured it's one of those places that you should probably visit if you're in the UK for any length of time. It's so close I really didn't have an excuse not to, and I'm glad I did.

Dover

The weather looked good for Saturday, so I decided I would head to Dover in southeastern England. I caught a train at Waterloo Station in London and after an hour and a half I was there. The second to last stop on the way to Dover stops at Canterbury, where I could see the famous Cathedral in the distance. Part of me wished I had decided to go there but I think I'd had my fill of Cathedrals from the previous weekend.

After arriving in Dover I wondered if it was always so crowded but I quickly found out that it was the 100th anniversary of the first flight across the English Channel by the Frenchman, Louis Bleriot. There wasn't a whole lot in the town so I made my way to the "Key of England", Dover Castle. As you can see from the second photo below, the Castle complex sits on top of a pretty steep hill. It was a little bit of a walk to get there from the town but was well worth it once you arrive. The first thing I did was climb to the top of the Admiralty Lookout, the lookout position used during World Wars I and II. The photo below is from the top of the lookout towards France, 21 miles away. It was pretty easy to see France that day, although it's kind of difficult to make out in the picture (it might be easier to see if you click on it). The third picture below is of the White Cliffs of Dover from the Admiralty Lookout. It was a really great view, France in the distance, the town of Dover to my right, the White Cliffs to my left and the ferries leaving the bustling Port of Dover for France below.

At noon I joined a tour of the castle's underground war tunnels. The tour focused on World War II, although there have been tunnels there since Medieval times. The tunnels were expanded during the Napoleonic Wars as England expected an invasion from France and, as you can see from the photos below, were extensively updated and used during World War II. After being routed by the German offensive into France at the outset of WW II, the British Expeditionary Force needed to be evacuated from Dunkirk, France. The operation to evacuate the British forces, codenamed Operation Dynamo, was conducted from these bunkers. Initial expectations were to evacuate around 45,000 soldiers; however, over 338,000 were eventually evacuated. The operation became known as the "Miracle of Dunkirk".

One really interesting thing about Dover Castle is that it contains something from almost every major chapter of English history. The first photo below is of the Roman lighthouse, built in the 1st century AD after the Roman invasion of Britain. The second photo below is of the Saxon church, St Mary de Castro. At this point I've gotten pretty good at being able to pick out which buildings are of Saxon construction. In general, a building with thick walls and only a few, small windows tends to be Saxon. Neither the lighthouse or the Saxon church had much to look at on the inside. The lighthouse was hallowed out and the church had been remodeled fairly recently (19th century). The third photo below shows the Norman Keep from the hill next to the Saxon church and Roman lighthouse. The keep has been closed for a year and is set to open next month so I couldn't go inside. Construction of the keep and the refortification of the castle began shortly after William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings (not too far away). In fact, his army took possession of the town and the Saxon fortifications after the battle before making their way to London.

I thought the below photo was somewhat poignant as it captures the castle complex's long history in one snapshot. The Saxon church is on the left (the Roman Lighthouse is barely visible just behind/to the left of the church), the Norman keep is to the right, and in the foreground is the barrel of a World War II anti-aircraft gun.


After leaving the castle I followed my trusty guidebook's directions to head to the National Trust's White Cliffs of Dover (like a National Park in the U.S.). I'm wondering if any of the writers actually made the walk. The sidewalk quickly disappeared from the road I was directed down. I had already gone too far, so I kept going. As I said, it was kind of a busy weekend so there was quite a bit of traffic. I kept having to jump up on the side of the road. Eventually I made it there in one piece. It is free to enter for people traveling on foot. I hadn't expected too much from the cliffs. I figured they would be just like normal cliffs, but white. Which they were, but it was much more exciting than I would have thought. Maybe it was because it was such a beautiful day, or maybe because I've seen them referenced in books and movies so many times, but the cliffs really were an enjoyable experience. There are a lot of walking paths, so I quickly made my way to a section that was less crowded.

Notice one of the many ferries to France in the right of the photo.

I settled down on a quiet section of the cliff to relax. Not wanting to be associated with the headline "Another Tourist Falls to His Death", I decided to stay at least one foot from the very edge. It was a great feeling, to lay back against my backpack and look out at the English Channel. One of the things I love about the ocean is its timelessness. I could lay on this windy cliff edge and imagine the Spanish Armada sailing through the Channel, a British soldier returning home after years of serving in the Empire, or the drone of the German bombers as they passed overhead during the Battle of Britain. That is one of the great things about history, it adds a further layer of depth and appreciation to life. I could have laid there a lot longer than I did, but eventually I had to get up and head back into town. It was a very cathartic experience and rivaled that of my second day in Scotland, when I stood on top of that mountain on the Isle of Skye. If there is one things I've increasingly come to realize during these trips, it's that I really enjoy being in nature. In fact, I think it's something that I need in my life rather than just enjoy. It doesn't always have to be far away places like the Scottish Highlands of the Cliffs of Dover, but I think I will make more of an effort to get out and appreciate the world around me.

After getting back to town I got a quick dinner at a pub then hopped on the train back to London. I took the below video while I was laying on the cliff edge, it is of a World War II British Lancaster bomber that flew past. The video pans over to the right so you can see the Port of Dover, to the left so you can see the White Cliffs and down so you can see the edge of the cliff.

St. Albans

The next day after visiting Salisbury and Stonehenge I made my way to St. Albans. I was kind of worn out from the previous day but St. Albans is only a 20 minute train ride from the Cricklewood train station in London. Nevertheless, it seems like a world away once you arrive. Much calmer and more relaxed than London. I made my way to the center of town from the train station, which was actually a bit of a hike. From there I walked to the city's famous clock tower. It was built in the early 1400's. It was alright, but really not all that impressive. Although I must admit that I didn't actually go inside. After that I walked to the Cathedral.

The Cathedral was rebuilt over an early Saxon site after the Norman conquest, starting sometime around 1077. As you can see in a couple of the photos below, its built out of a real hodge podge of materials. A lot of the structure is made out of flint, which must be pretty common because lots of older buildings were made of the same. The Normans also used a lot of the original Saxon material and Roman bricks. Near St Albans was the site of the third largest Roman settlement in Britain, named Verulamium.

St Albans Cathedral is the resting place of, surprisingly enough, Saint Alban. Britain's first English martyr (there are three total), St. Alban had been a Roman living in Verulamium and converted to Christianity. As punishment, he was decapitated on a hill outside Verulamium which is now the site of the Cathedral.

St. Albans is a beautiful cathedral that's somewhat off the beaten path. It definitely makes for an easy day trip from London. You could probably even cover everything in an afternoon. The below photo is of a wall painting that was rediscovered in the 1800's. It had been whitewashed over during the Reformation. While I was at the Cathedral there was actually some kind of service going on in the far section. You can definitely tell that this is still a very active church and less of a museum like some of the other cathedrals and abbeys I've visited. Historically it had been a site for pilgrims and it seemed like the Church still very much catered to pilgrims traveling to St. Alban's shrine. I didn't take any photos of the shrine as we were asked not to.

After the Cathedral I headed to the site of the Roman city, Verulamium. Almost all the buildings had been taken apart for their building materials, so now its just a large 100 acre park. As you can see in the below picture, it's really pretty. If you lived in London or nearby it would be a real nice way to get out of the city.

On the edge of the park is the Verulamium museum. This is a small museum covering the Roman history of the area with some of the artifacts that have been found nearby. Its a nice little museum and worth a visit if you're going to go to St. Albans.

Near the museum is Roman Theatre. It is the best preserved Roman theatre in Britain, but as you can see from the below picture, there still isn't much there. They have found the foundations of some townhouses that were alongside the Roman Watling Street, which was interesting. It was just kind of neat to see the layout of an average sized Roman home.


As you can probably tell, St Albans isn't a mind blowing, spirit altering trip (unless, maybe if you're a pilgrim). But it was a nice place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately not much is left of the Roman settlement but I have to admit, they do a very good job of presenting what remains. If you were visiting London and looking for a day trip, I could think of better places to go. But if you have the time, it is a nice place and could probably really be done in half a day.

Salisbury & Stonehenge

This past weekend I took the train to Salisbury in the southwest of England. Known for it's beautiful Cathedral (with the tallest spire in the UK), Salisbury sits on the edge of the famous Salisbury Plain. Trains depart just about every half hour from Waterloo Station in London and arrive at Salisbury in about an hour and a half. After getting there I made my way to the city center. Salisbury must be the easiest, best marked city I've been to in the UK. There were signs everywhere, it would be almost impossible to lose your way. Once in the city center I grabbed a quick breakfast and stopped by the tourism office. They offer a cheap 2-hour walking tour which was leaving in a few minutes, so I signed up. The tour was good, although the guide was a little old and hard to hear. The tour was for the city and not the Cathedral or Cathedral Close (though we walked through part of it), so I'm glad I took it or I would have missed out on a lot. We ended up going into quite a few historic buildings that had been converted into hotels or restaurants. They were really interesting and I wouldn't have gone in them without the guide who apparently had an agreement with the owners.

One of the first places we went to was the Church of St. Thomas (below). The outside is nothing amazing, and really, neither is the inside except for the painting in the church called Doom. When our tour went by the church was closed for some kind of service, so I had to swing back by on my own a little later. It was well worth it though. The church was completely empty, which allowed me to sit down and look at the painting in my own time. It was a gift from a pilgrim and depicts Judgement Day, with people crawling out of their graves and either being taken to heaven or being dragged by demons to hell. It was kind of nice to sit alone and look at this medieval pilgrim's view of Judgement Day; knowing that generations of people have sat in the same pews, looked at Doom and pondering the same ideas that it brings to your mind. The second picture below is of the painting, although I couldn't get a clear shot to come out.

The tour conveniently ended in front of the Salisbury Cathedral, so I decided to go in. It was built from 1220 to 1258, very quick for a Cathedral which means that it was all done in one style, English Gothic. Normally, since Cathedrals take so long to build, they end up incorporating several different styles. The Cathedral is free to enter, but they do ask for a donation. People told me they could be quite pushy about it, because the upkeep of the Cathedral is considerable. I wasn't asked to make a donation, although I did put one in the box, but I heard them being kind of pushy with the people in front of me. Maybe they didn't bother because I'm foreign, or maybe because I bought one of the small guides. But the lady at the desk kept asking the people in front of me, "Would you like to make a donation", and when he said no they said, "Really!?! The upkeep is extremely expensive, you really can't spare a donation?". It seemed a bit pushy to me anyways, but the people just kept refusing and became a little exasperated. Although you probably should donate something, since it costs something like 12,ooo pounds a day to upkeep the Cathedral.

The first picture below is of the Cathedral's spire. Below that is a short video from inside the Cathedral. It was very atmospheric, a choir was practicing in the Cathedral (you should be able to hear in the video).

The Cathedral also houses one of the four copies of the Magna Carta. It's been at the Cathedral since 1225 and was pretty neat to see. The photo below is of some of the military flags in the Cathedral. It seems like almost every church and cathedral that I've visited in the UK, large or small, has the historic flags of the nearby/local military units. For a history fanatic, it is always interesting to see the flags that accompanied these units to the far flung reaches of the British Empire. Oftentimes the flags will have a plaque or sign saying where it was used, from China to the Crimea.

After the Cathedral I made my way to the bus station and got tickets for a line that runs a loop between Salisbury, Stonehenge and Old Sarum. It ended up being a really good deal. It only cost around 14 pounds, which included entry into Stonehenge. Of course there are huge lines when you get there, but the bus driver walked us through the side gate so we didn't have to wait.

By now, everyone knows how interested I am in history. But for whatever reason, Stonehenge never was a huge draw for me. Maybe because I assumed there wasn't much there and that it would be packed with people. This was the case, but it ended up being much better than I thought. It is always cool when you finally see something that you've seen on TV or read about. And the mystery and atmosphere of the place is kind of striking. Set on the Salisbury Plain, Stonehenge really was a fantastic sight. Another interesting thing was the large burial mounds in the fields nearby. You could tell that they were made in different shapes and, as it turns out, this was the case. Different shaped mounds were used for men and women.

Stonehenge really doesn't take too long, so I hopped back on the bus and road to Old Sarum. The bus ticket price included admission into Old Sarum as well as Stonehenge. This was the site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. In fact, Salisbury has historically been referred to as New Sarum. It has been a site of human habitation since 3000 BC, but its first major development was during the Iron Age when it was built up as a hill fort. You can see from the photo below that, on top of being on a hill surrounded by plains, it has been built into a impressive fortification. It was occupied by the Romans, Saxons and eventually the Normans. The Normans built a large castle on the site, but only the foundations remain. William the Conqueror actually disbanded and paid out his army here following his conquest of England. The second photo below is looking towards Salisbury from Old Sarum, you can see the Cathedrals spire through the fog.

After getting back to Salisbury from Old Sarum I wandered around the market, then just as it was starting to rain (again) made my way to the train station. I really enjoyed my day at Salisbury, it's a nice little town and has quite a bit to offer.

London 3

This post is kind of a hodgepodge of a few of the other places I visited while in London. Since I went to these places throughout my time here, they are in no particular order.

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This was a really interesting place. Although it is a museum of art and design, and I've been to plenty of those, I'm not sure that I've ever really been to something similar. It is such a huge museum that it would take ages to get through all the exhibits. I pretty much had a whole day so was only limited by my own endurance. Needless to say I didn't make it through the whole museum, which would be quite an undertaking, but I did manage to make my way through a good portion of the exhibits. The V&A has exhibits from all over the world and most time periods. It is well worth a visit if you are ever in London.

Parliament

I was able to get tickets to the Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) which take place in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, even having tickets does not guarantee a seat and, as it was the last session before the MP's recess, I wasn't able to get in. The PMQs only last for a half hour from 12-12:30 and anyone can get tickets from their embassy; however, Brits get preference in the "first come, first served" seating. However, I was able to get in after the PMQs to see a debate on climate change which was interesting. It was also nice to look around Parliament. There were plenty of tour groups, so I was able to listen in as some passed by while we waited to be let in. It is well worth the time to visit Parliament but, to me anyways, it looses a bit of it's luster as the building was rebuilt after a fire in the 1830's. As a history buff, it would be much more interesting to be able to actually walk the halls where so many historic events had occurred. As it stands, mine is only a minor complaint. The current structure is beautiful and a good substitute and they make an effort to point out the locations where these historic events did occur.

Tate Modern

I went to the Tate Modern after work on a Friday. Its housed in an old power station on the south side of the Thames. In the photo you can see the Millennium Bridge which allows pedestrians to cross the river. It stays open until 10 PM on Fridays and Saturday. I was a little tired from work to cover the entire museum, but was I did see was absolutely great. I could have spent many more hours there. I just covered the free sections (there are also changing exhibits which charge a entrance fee). I'd like to spend some more time there before I leave. It really is one of the world's premier modern art galleries.