Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated. I hope I still remember what the hell I did in Europe. Hmm...
Day 10 - Lucerne
We left Florence early in the morning for Lucerne, Switzerland. We drove through Italy, passed Lake Como (where George Clooney owns a big ass house on the lake), and arrived into Switzerland around 2 pm. We arrived at the base of Mt. Stanserhorn and took a little train half-way up the mountain and then took sky gondolas the rest of the way up. We walked around Mt. Stanserhorn for about an hour (we hiked up to the top of the mountain and it was BEAUTIFUL. I wish it wasn't foggy, but it was still an amazing view) and saw these little animals called Marmots. They were kind of like fat gophers? Hm. Anyway, the mountain was beautiful... we left the mountain around 4 pm and drove into Lucerne. We didn't really get a chance to walk around the shops... but I did get some yummy chocolates for my family and a dark chocolate bar for myself (all which I accidentally left in Arcadia... damn).
After we checked into our hotel (WHICH WAS A CONVERTED PRISON... yeah, seriously. It was a working prison until 1998... why in the hell would Contiki choose this? So weird) we just hung out in the room (which was freaky) until it was time for dinner. Dinner was chicken curry... which was really weird since we were in Switzerland. But whatever, after dinner Tracee and I walked around Lucerne. All the shops were closed except one touristy type store. I found a really cute Swiss Military watch, so I made the rash decision just to buy it. How often am I in Switzerland to buy a watch? After we walked around, we met up with a few tour people to have a drink in the hotel bar before going to bed. I think Lucerne was one of the most expensive cities in Europe. A bottle of coke was 5 Swiss francs... which is like $5. Yeesh. Mixed drinks were 15 francs. Lucerne might be the most boring city we visited on our trip.
Day 11 & 12 - Paris
We left Switzerland HELLA early (7 am) to drive to France. We arrived in Paris, after a pretty long bus ride, and went straight to a little perfumerie for a demonstration. When we arrived in Paris there was a CRAPLOAD of traffic. And I thought Italian drivers were bad... Parisians were 10x worse. I think it was the World Rugby Finals or something.
Due to traffic... we were a bit late, but were still able to smell a different crappy perfumes before leaving. After the perfumerie, we headed to the hotel to check in and relax a bit. Dinner was served in the hotel (it was some kind of chicken and rice dish... it was OK) and then we all took the subway to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was AMAZING. It was totally breath-taking and beautiful. We took the elevators to the very top and had a great view of Paris. After the Eiffel Tower, a group of us went to a little cafe to have hot chocolate and snacks (I had fries and an Orangina). It took forever to catch a cab back to the hotel, but we finally got back around 1 am.
The next morning, we met on the bus at 7:30 am to get a driving tour of Paris. We drove past the Louvre, past the Musee D'Orsay, past... lots of other stuff I don't remember. Oh yeah! The building that houses Napolean's tomb, the Artillery Museum, and the park near the Eiffel Tower. Great photo ops! After the little driving tour, we were dropped off at the Louvre for our free day in Paris! Our small group (Doug, Pete, Breanne, Tracee, and me) walked around the Louvre and saw the greats: Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, the Venus Di Milo, Napolean's Coronation, and Napolean III's Apartment. We kind of did a rushed tour and were in and out of the Louvre in about two hours. After the Louvre, we had some yummy savory crepes and then walked to the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame was huge and beautiful... but to be honest, we were a bit church'ed out. We've seen tons and tons of beautiful chapels all throughout Europe, but the Notre Dame was quite amazing. After Notre Dame, we got lost on the subway... for like 2 hours. It was terrible. We eventually made it to the Arc De Triomphe and since it was Sunday, we got in for free!! We took the millions of steps to get to the top of the Arc and then from there, had a great view of Paris in the daytime. After the Arc, we walked around Champs D'Elysee. I was really only interested in one store... Louis Vuitton. I had to wait in LINE to get into the store and then decided to buy a wallet after being inside for like 20 minutes. The wallet was SO expensive... the most expensive thing I've bought maybe... but it's totally worth it.
Ah... beautiful wallet. After shopping, we headed back to the hotel to rest. Tracee and I did a few loads of laundry, checked our email, and just relaxed in the hotel. Around 9 pm, we met up with the rest of the tour group and headed near the Can-Can dancing area (some people went to a cabaret show... but I didn't want to spend €112 on a nudie dance show). A small group of us walked around to find some dinner and eventually found this really cute hole-in-the-wall place. It was super cheap too!! Finally, some affordable food. They had three course meals for only €9,90. I got onion soup, pepper steak with potatoes, and chocolate mousse!! So good. After dinner, we walked to a bar down the street where the entire tour group was congregating. We hung out for a bit, then eventually left at like midnight. Our last night in Paris *sigh. I definitely want to go back someday... very beautiful.
Day 13-17 - London!
We left for London at 7:30 am and arrived in the UK at around 3 pm. The end of the tour was bittersweet. I definitely enjoyed my time on the tour and I had met a lot of cool people... but I was ready to vacation without the huge group. Tracee and I took the underground to our hotel in the Bayswater district of London. It was long and tiring dragging all our luggage around the subway, but we were definitely surprised and pleased to find that our hotel (that I found on Expedia) was AWESOME. I don't know if the clerk messed up or just liked us, but he gave us a one bedroom apt instead of the studio apt that I paid for. SWEET. I took a nap while Tracee walked around for some groceries and to make a few calls. After we relaxed and had dinner, we headed back to Russell Square to meet up for ONE LAST DRINK with a few Contiki people. We also bought a few tickets from the Contiki office (discounted tickets for The London Dungeon and the Tower of London). It was nice to say goodbye... um, again... to everyone and we headed home around 10 pm.
The following morning, well kind of morning, we woke up at like 12 pm. Wow. We slept like 12+ hours. I think the tour just wore us out... but all that sleep felt REALLY nice. After we got ready, we left for the London Dungeon Tour. The tour was TOTALLY cheesey with over the top actors and gruesome statues and stuff. But it was pretty damn fun. After the tour, walked over the London Bridge and got sandwiches and ate them on a concrete bench outside. We walked all the way from the London Bridge to St. Paul's church to Oxford Circus to our hotel in Bayswater. It must've been like a 5 mile trek. Wow. Not doing that again. We shopped a little bit in Oxford Circus... Miss Selfridge is a REALLY cute and trendy store. I didn't end up buying anything, but they have the cutest stuff. I also realized they have a WEBSITE where you can buy their stuff too. SWEET. Anyway, I ended up just getting a tank top from Esprit. We found an Indian take-away place and got Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner. The food was pretty gross, but whatever. We were tired and hungry.
On our third day in London, we woke up semi-early and went out to Russell Square. We went back to the Contiki office to get tickets for the London Eye and after we headed to the British History Museum. Tracee and I split up for a few hours to explore the museum on our own. I saw Cleopatra's mummy and lots of other historical and beautiful things (none that I can specifically remember right now). The Rosetta Stone was in the museum, but I'm retarded and was unable to find it (Tracee did and took a few pics). After the museum, we took the bus (which was FUN!) to the London Eye. The London Eye was really cool, but I was bored after like 10 minutes (the ride lasts 25 minutes). After the London Eye, we went to Leicester Square and found a Korean restaurant for dinner. It was REALLY yummy and reminded me of home a bit (I got kimchee chigae and Tracee got bibimbop). After dinner we went to watch the play Avenue Q. It was SO funny... like a dirty Muppets movie. They cursed and had puppet sex... it was funny and interesting. The actors were also GREAT singers. Sweet. After the play we checked our email in an internet cafe and then headed back to the hotel.
On our fourth day in London, we woke up early to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was pretty boring, but the band was AWESOME. I thought they would play old and stodgy British songs... but they played Michael Jackson's Thriller, U2's Dead or Alive, Rocky's Eye of the Tiger... really random and AWESOME songs. Sweeeeet. After the changing of the guard we walked to the bus stop and took the bus to the Tower of London. The Tower of London was pretty cool... we had this funny Beefeater guy that showed us around and told us the history of the castle. After the little tour, we saw the Crown Jewels and walked all around the castle. After, we waited for Tracee's bf's friend to meet us, but the timing was wrong. She left work RIGHT after we stopped waiting. Tragic. After the tour, we took the bus to Picadilly Circus (which is like Times Square in New York... according to Tracee, since I've never been there). It was a bit ghetto, but interesting. Tracee and I both got jackets (I got a Manchester United football sweatshirt and Tracee got a London sweatshirt) from this little shop with a creepy shopkeeper... he called us "lovely ladies" and asked us where we were "from." I hate when people ask this question because I know they're just asking what ethnicity I am... instead of where I'm really from. So when I answer it usually goes like this:
ignorant person (IP): where are you from?
me: California
IP: no, where are you FROM?
me: Los Angeles
IP: no, where are your parents from?
me: Los Angeles and Fresno
IP: no no, where are your grandparents from?
me: Fresno?
IP: no...
me: OK OK I'm CHINESE.
F'ing idiots. Anyway, the jackets were quite cute. We took the bus back to Paddington Station and got dinner at this shwarma type place to eat at the hotel. We just hung out in our room for our last night in London and relaxed.
On our fifth and last day in London, we checked out of the hotel, left our luggage at the reception, and went to check our email at the local internet cafe. We got ready to leave for the airport around 12 and took the express train to Heathrow. Man, LAX security ain't got nothing on Heathrow's. They have some pretty extensive security checks. We had to first put our carry-on luggage through the xray thingy, then we had to walk through the metal detectors. THEN we had to do another security check and put just our shoes through a xray thingy. Yeesh, but we finally got through and looked around the duty free shop. I bought cute little Paddington Bears (one for me, Sooz, and Ellen) and a sandwich for lunch.
Our flight was finally ready and we boarded the plane at like 4 pm. There was a delay, so we didn't take off until about 4:45 pm. The flight was REALLY long, REALLY boring, and overall just terrible. I have a hard time sitting in one place for very long. The flight was about 11 1/2 hours long, but we arrived in LAX on Friday at 8 pm. Whew. SO LONG. Jeremy was nice enough to pick Tracee and me up from the airport and take us back to their apt in Encino. My dad picked me up from Encino and I had fun telling Euro stories to my family and giving out presents.
Overall, my trip was amazing. I'm not sure I'd do another bus tour thingy, but it was a great way to see a LOT of Europe in a short amount of time. I know that I want to go back to Paris, Rome, Florence, and Germany. Switzerland and Austria were pretty, but very boring. I met a lot of cool people and had a great time. But it's nice to be back in the states. *whew... long long updates.
Shopping overview:
*postcards from every city we visited
Amsterdam: cute navy Amsterdam messenger bag
St. Goar: Birkenstocks, beer stein
Munich: cute little leiderhosen bear keychain
Austrian Tyrol: two pairs of cheap earrings for me and one pair of earrings for my mom from Swarovski
Venice: glass ring, glass necklaces (for Al, Susie, and Ellen), a glass pendant, a fake Burberry bag, Italia jacket
Florence: grey cardigan from Zara, wallet for my dad
Lucerne: Swiss Military watch
Paris: LV wallet
London: Manchester jacket, Esprit tank top, Paddington bears
Hmmm.. I feel like there's more that I bought. But I don't remember. Whew. Long long LONG updates.
Ahhh laziness. Let's see what I've been doing this week... hm. Sunday night I stayed in but made homemade cookies! Susie came over and we (plus Al) hung out in the living room watching tv. We also watched the Real Dolls Documentary online. Creepy stuff. Monday I pretty much stayed in all day until about 10 pm when I met up with Alan, Kenny, and Peter at AU for tea. We sat and chatted for a few hours then I was back home around midnight. It felt weird hanging out with those guys... felt like I was at PCC and 18 again. I haven't seen Kenny in 2 years and I haven't seen Peter in probably like 4 years. So crazy.
