|
| Euro trip recap, last day in London and then Toronto!May 15th
It is the day of our departure. We planed to check out Nature Science Museum today in the morning and then head out. I loved this museum. It has a big collection of dinosaur fossils and also the remake ones. Over there, you can totally see how big those dinosaurs were back in the days and how fearsome they were.
They also had a big live sized sample of Blue Whale. Gosh! This whale is huge! Its bigger than a double decker bus here in London. if you live in the stomach of this whale for 3 days, you still get a lot of room to move around and exercise. (referring to a bible story if you know what i mean)
This museum also have a simulation room of the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. They put you in a re-made Japanese 7-11 store and they shook the room like you were in real earthquake. This museum is amazing, I am pretty jealous of the kids in London.
Then the biggest drama happened today. Somehow someone mentioned by memory that our flight is at 6:30pm... but it was actually at 3pm. We didn't find out about this mistake until 2pm today. It was too late by the time we realize it. Now we had to figure out what to do.
If the queen and Blake decided to go home tomorrow, they had to pay $700 extra each person! Isn't that crazy? The queen was super upset today. Never seen her like that before, but I was pretty upset as well until I figure out my situation.
I got it off easy, I had to pay $100 to get on the 8:30am flight next morning to Toronto. So it didn't take me that long to cool down. however, its not so easy for Blake and queen. $700 is a lot to think about. But thanks God they eventually managed to only paying $260 to get on a flight home 2 days later. So there you go, their vacation didn't end as early as they originally planned. I am glad it all worked out for them. Hope they had a wonderful time there without me.
So this means that we got one extra night here in London. We hit Leicester Square again to chill. We decided to watch the show "Blood Brothers". Its not well known in the state but its actually a popular show here in UK. The story is about a twin brother got separated at birth and their dramatic story afterward. It is a very touching storyline, the acting was so great that it is easy to get your emotional attached to the characters. It was not as good as "wicked" but I would recommended it to those who are sensitive.
So I am departing from London tonight. It felt sad to say goodbye to my Euro trip but I am here facing a long night. I am staying over night here at the airport waiting for my 5:30am check in. Hopefully I can make it ok. But i am so looking forward to see Emily at Toronto. I had enough drama already, need to get away. Plus, I need Asian food!!!
May 16th
Landed at Toronto smoothly! Emily came pick me up at the airport and then she showed me around Toronto.
The first place we went was pho! Oh my gosh!! I missed it so much!! I was in tears when I was eating them. I didn't get much Asian food back in Europe (well, unless you count those white washed Chinese food in London Chinatown).
Then we toured around downtown and water front. There actually isn't much to see here. Oh well, its okay. I prefer just relax here and enjoy the life here in TO. Emily's sister worked in movie theature, so we got in for free and watching Chronicle of Narnia. Not a bad start in Toronto.
| | |
| Euro trip- LondonMay 13th
Again, the queen had her own request. She wanted to see the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace. Again, NOT impressed. It was totally like a high school band. The event took place inside the gates where we can barely see anything. I am not sure if I can trust the queen's judgment anymore, she always find us the most *awesome* places to see.
We then head out to see the British Museum, it was an world famous museum and we were glad we went because the place is amazing! Its free!! I loved their amazing archaeological collections. I felt like I am walking through the history again. From pre-historic age to bronze and iron age. Then you get to see the raise and fall of Egyptian empire, Persian empire, Babylon empire, Greece empire and the Rome empire. It was great! I was very glad to be here. Its like a review all the stuff you heard about in your high school history classes.
I got separated from Queen at Blake at the Museum. ya.. I heard Queen took a nap there.
At night we hung out at Leicester Square. Its like our favorite place to go since it has a lot of people, nice restaurants, shop and shows. Also, most impotently, Chinatown is next to it. I brought a London designed shirt and Manchester United jacket. It was a good buy, I think I will wear them a lot!!
may 14th
Went to the British Museum again today since we only finished part of it yesterday. This time, I got to see the mummy collections, Egyptian coffins, statues, their burial tradition. It was amazing to see all these remaining from 5000 years ago! There also Japanese, Chinese, south Asia, Eastern Europe antiques. They had the old school samurai sword and armor. It looks pretty pimp. Remember "The Last Samurai" and "Kill Bill"? The armor and the sword looks exactly like the ones in movie. But out of all the swords I have seen, I will have to say the Japanese swords are the most impressive.
What's important to me was to see some of the Chinese antique collections there. It bring me memories of the Chinese history I learn back in Taiwan. The drawing, writing, tools of the old Chinese days. Stuff I used to see in pictures or movies are all displayed in front of me. Amazing!
Then, the best part of London. We watched the "Wicked". It was so good! The best show I have seen so far. "Wicked" and "Jersey Boys" are the two of my all time favorite shows now. After tonight, I dont think I will watch the "Wizard of Oz" in the same way again. Elpheba is a most wonderful wicked witch of the West. Also, the character Glinda the good witch was really good in the show as well. 10 out of 10!!
| | |
| Euro trip London part.. blahMay 11th
Left Paris to London today through Eurostar. This morning I got some refund from the hotel because the hot water didnt work during our very first night so the Hotel gave us first night of day for free. Not bad uh? We saved 79 Euros.
The train ride was ok, we get to see the country side of Paris, it was just as beautiful as the countryside in Italy. Lots of farms and amazing landscapes. So far, I do like Paris the most. It is very chilling and very youth friendly. I remember we saw a couple lesbians making out at the subway here. Blake and I kinda like it.. one of them was an Asian girl, she looks like one of my friend in Seattle... who is it uh?
Arrived at our Hotel/Hostel in London. We loved it, it has a bar, nice back yard, pool table, internet room. It is also only 5 mins walk from subway station at Kensington. It is a nice neighborhood. I am glad all our hotels/hostels turned out well. My long research didn't get wasted at last.
We went to check out the national gallery in London, it was free! All museums in London are free, how nice was it uh? We then checked out Covent Garden. Its a nice area with lots of restaurants and bars. its almost like Latin Quarter, but Latin quarter was still better. We also checked out the bridge over River Thames, nice view we got here. But *sigh*, something still don't feel right..
May 12th
We found an internet cafe where they don't charge us for wireless. Ya! what a great find, I was able to do job application and pictures uploads when I was there. Blake and the Queen also managed to do some work in the morning. Poor them and poor me in some way.
We went to check out London eye. It is a giant wheel take take you up high for like 30 mins and you get to see the view on London. We didn't go up, it cost too much. but the view was nice around the area.
then, The queen requested to go check out London bridge so we did. Man.. what a whack choice, when we got there, we just see a bridge... ya, nothing special but just a bridge. Even the bridge from my neighbor's backyard is more impressive than this!! The old London bridge has been destoried just like our childhood jingle said. But we did find out about the tower bridge. Now thats impressive, we even get to watch the bridge goes up as a boat pass by. It reminds me of the 520 bridge in Seattle.
We also walked by the ship HMS Belfast. That was cool, it is a remaining ship from WWII and if anyone has seen the movie "Finding Private Ryan" this ship provided cover fire for the D-Day landing in the event described in the movie. This ship also sunk one of the biggest German vessel and helped England to win the war over the sea in WWII. Pretty important ship I must say.
Then we walked around Tower of London, its kinda cool. A old castle with many stories in it, I should take a tour there next time I go to London. We then went back to Chinatown and ate Chinese buffet cause all the other food here sucked and were overpriced.
| | |
| Euro trip update Paris-LondonMay 10th
Our plan was to Versailles today. It was the King's palace mostly built from King Louis XIV to Louis XVI. The place was all right, we saw the chamber of the kings and queens and their garden. After the tour, our queen Deb said this place is good enough to be her garden. she got good taste uh?
Dined at Latin Quarter tonight. We went to this place called "Rick's chef" or something. I randomly picked this place because I saw a lot of people dine there. Somehow most of the restaurant I picked during this trip were all pretty good. Queen and I had snails as appetizers, I loved it, but the queen was sort of disgusted by the thought of eating snails. oh spoiled queen
We then got really good main course: Blake's veal steak, queen's calf's head and my sirlon steak. Including dessert and we payed about 15 euro for it. It was a meal totally worth it. Probably the best food I had here in Paris, I'd recommend everyone for this spot! Thanks to Char for telling us about Latin Quarter!
May 11th
Left Paris to London today through Eurostar. This morning I got some refund from the hotel because the hot water didnt work during our very first night so the Hotel gave us first night of day for free. Not bad uh? We saved 79 Euros!
The train ride was ok, we get to see the country side of Paris, it was just as beautiful as the countryside in Italy. Lots of farms and amazing landscapes. So far, I think I like Paris the most. It is very chilling and very youth friendly. I remember we saw a couple lesbians making out at the subway here. Blake and I were like.. "woah, that's hot".. one of them was an Asian girl, she looks like one of my friend in Seattle... who is it?
Arrived at our Hotel/Hostel in London. We loved it, it has a bar, nice back yard, pool table, internet room. It is also only 5 mins walk from subway station at Kensington. It is a nice neighborhood. I am glad all our hotels/hostels turned out well. My long research didnt get wasted at last.
We went to check out the national gallery in London, it was free! All museums in London are free, how nice was it uh? We then checked out Covent Garden. Its a nice area with lots of restaurants and bars. its almost like Latin Quarter, but Latin Quater was still better. We also checked out the bridge over River Thames, nice view we got here. But *sigh*, something still don't feel right..
| | |
|
