London to Paris: July 5th

After our amazing time in London we were sad to say good-bye! Luckily we had Paris to look forward to, so it really wasn't that hard to leave. On Saturday morning we woke up super early, around 4am, to pack up our bags and take "the underground" (aka: subway) to our bus station. We then rode a bus for the next 8 hours to PARIS!! I am super grateful the bus had wifi because Alex slept the entire time and I could only sleep for 2 hours! I was super jealous of her sleeping abilities! I was able to update the blog, catch up with Lex and Andrew a bit, and took in a lot of different scenery throughout the drive. 

Things got pretty interesting once we made it to Paris... We weren't quite sure how to find the subway and then once we stumbled upon it we had no clue which rail to take to get our place outside of the city. The language barrier made things a lot more complicated. We ended up figuring it out, getting on all the right subways, and making it to our place safely. What a relief! 

That night we walked around the town we are staying in called Champigny. We also had dinner and then solidified our plans for the next few days! Can't wait to explore more of Paris!

Backpacking through Paris! 

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To wrap up the London part of our trip I wanted to write about a few things that were different compared to the states!

Different words on signs:

America --> London, England

Exit --> way out

Restroom --> toilets

Take out food --> take away

Subway --> the underground 

(I'm sure there are so many more... I just can't think of them right now.)

Other notable differences:

- people driving on the left side of the road

- drivers on the right side of the car

- getting used to saying pents and not cents

- holding the fork pointing down

- walking on the left side of the sidewalk (so hard to remember!)

- crazy drivers and even crazier pedestrians crossing the street whenever they want

- precious little cars that look old fashion

London, England: July 4th

Highlights: Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, fish & chips, and WIMBLEDON!

Buckingham Palace

At Buckingham Palace we were able to see the changing of the guards! It was cool seeing the men in the red suits and fuzzy hats playing instruments. They formed a really impressive band. I was trying to imagine what the job qualifications must be for that job... Trained intensely in the military and part of the marching band in high school? Either way, they must be cool fellas! 

Honestly, we were pretty distracted from the actual event because of how crazy the tourists were. Some of them are really intense. As we are standing in a crowd a small Asian man shoved into Alex to get in front of her and then ended up directly behind me, shouting some language in my ear. I assumed he was talking to his family behind him in the crowd... But he could've easily been telling me to move or something. Too bad I couldn't understand him! Haha! It's really interesting being in that kind of touristy spot because you hear SO MANY different languages and accents. You also come across many different personalities as well. You have to love the diversity!

This picture can give you a glimpse at how many people show up to this! It's insane! 

The flag being up means that the queen is home. :)

St. James Park

Eating apples, talking, enjoying the nice weather, and people watching. 

We had to try some fish & chips to get the full England experience! It was "fantastic" and "simply splendid"!

Next we were off to Wimbledon!!!

It was so surreal to be at Wimbledon! I would've never believed anyone if they told me 6 months ago that I would have this kind of opportunity! Once again, Alex and I were like giddy kids on Christmas Day! 

We stood in a line for about 2 hours to get in and made friends with the people around us. We also got to play some mini tennis during the wait! It took some convincing to get Alex to play with me, but once a cute English boy told her it was just "a fun, casual knock around" Alex couldn't resist! The funny part is that there are a ton of people watching while they are waiting in line. We played on a tiny, fake grass court with squishy balls. Let's just say that our normal tennis skills did not transfer over. I could hardly play because my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. We called it quits when Alex served and almost hit a couple girls standing in line to play! Hahaha! This moment is by far the funniest of the trip so far! I'm sure the people watching us in line got a good laugh at the crazy American girls!

 

Now we can say we played tennis at WIMBLEDON!! Here are some pictures from our intense match! ;)

After having a "casual knock around" for the fans and "queuing" (waiting) in line for a while, we finally made it inside, just in time to see Federer's match against Raonic. It was the coolest experience ever getting to sit with the fans on the hill outside the center court and watch the semi-finals game on the big screen at Wimbledon! Federer won and is going to the finals! I just wish the rest of my family and boyfriend could've been there to enjoy it with me! We are all tennis fans!

I can now check this off my bucket list! :) 

London, England: July 3rd

Today we kept very busy going on tours and running all around London! 

We started the day by going to see the Tower of London. This place is packed full of history!! We went to a building called The Crown of Jewels where they have old crowns, swords, and clothing decked out in amazing jewelry! The other area we focused on had many of the past king's armor! I was really surprised at how short many of them were! There were also cool cannons and firearms in this section of the tour.

 
 

The Tower Bridge

After seeing the Tower of London we went on the City Cruise boat ride down the river over to Westminster Abby! The boat cruise was great and we enjoyed our own little picnic along the way. 

Westminster Abby was incredible!! This is a church where they do normal everyday worships, along with corrinations of the kings and queens. A LOT of royalty has been buried there as well. They give people little radio things that talk as you go to each section of the place. It was really interesting! I was mostly impressed with how old everything is!! I remember them saying that the tiles on the ground where people are corrinated is from the 1200's!!!!! Isn't that crazy?! That blew my mind! The building was gorgeous on the inside and out. The stain glass was amazing, as well as all of the statues on the inside. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, but trust me, it was beautiful and worth seeing if you are in the neighborhood! 

Shakesphere's Globe Theatre Gallery Tour

To end the night off right we went and saw the musical WICKED in theatre!! It was incredible and I think I can say that it's my favorite musical that I've seen. (Les Miserables comes super close though). Alex and I were like giddy little kids because of how excited we were to see this! I had seen it before, but loved it even more the 2nd time. It was fun hearing it with a British accent too! "Doncing through life..." All the a's turned to o's, even in the singing. Pretty funny! That was the only difference I noticed from seeing it in Arizona compared to London! Such an amazing experience! :)

 

London, England: July 1st & 2nd

Our Europe trip has begun!!

Day 1:

Alex and I met up at the Las Vegas airport and were both happy to see that we were not alone in the struggle to pack light with our carry-on size bags... But we did it!! Our first flight was to Washington D.C.! The 4 hour flight went super fast and we even made a new friend who is from London. He was super friendly and gave us some suggestions for our time in London! We landed in D.C. around 9pm and caught our next flight to London shortly after for about 7 hours! This flight felt pretty long because I only got a couple hours of sleep. But on the plus side, I did get to watch Frozen and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days! We landed into London at 10:15 with about 2-3 hours of sleep and a full day ahead of ourselves!

Day 2: 

After leaving the airport we found the place we are staying at. We used the site airbnb.com and are staying in a girl's dorm she's renting out. Let's just say it's pretty tricky trying to meet up with people when your cell phone only works in Wifi and you can't find a Wifi spot. Haha! We eventually found a way to meet up with the girl and got settled into our cozy room! 

After dropping off our backpacks we hit the streets of London! Alex and I loved walking around and soaking in all the gorgeous sites! I seriously feel like I'm dreaming as I'm up close and personal with such historic and famous places! I love it!! So today we just walked near Big Ben, Westminster Abby, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, and a couples other places I can't name off the top of my head. I love the buildings, the variety of people here, and the history! 

Tomorrow we will be doing some tours and learning more about the places we casually viewed today. We will also be going to the theatre! I'll tell you more after it happens! I couldn't be happier to be here and look forward to the adventures Alex and I will be having over the next month!!