Enjoying Paris and London!

As John’s time in Paris was ending, Mary, Rhonda and I still had a couple of days left to enjoy the city.  And enjoy it we did!  After seeing John off Monday morning, we decided it would be a good time to take a day off from all the tourist sites and just enjoy some shopping.  We went to a cute shopping district called Chatalet and spent the afternoon in and out of amazing Parisian shops.  As the day was bright and sunny, we even took a break at a corner café for some beer, cappuccino and good conversation.  After a day’s worth of browsing and some great purchases, we decided to relax back at our apartment and then head out for the night for a Sienne River Cruise at sunset.  We couldn’t have asked for a better evening to spend on the water taking in the city lights.  It was clear skies and we were lucky enough to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle twice on our journey.  After a relaxing and informational cruise, we finished our evening with dinner at midnight by our apartment.  At this point we were getting used to and loving these late night dinners!

Outside Hotel De Ville

Tuesday was our final full day in Paris and we decided to spend it walking a bit more.  We began by leisurely walking through the Tuileries Gardens (which is by the Louvre) and up to Champs Elysees.  We then made our way over to the beautiful Hotel De Ville building and decided to sit for a relaxing dinner before we made our way back to our apartment.  After another full day, we decided to get home early (by Paris standards) and begin our packing as we were off to London in the morning. 

We were up early the next morning as we were catching the Eurostar to London.  We were looking forward to this train ride as we were going to be passing underneath the English Channel, but were surprised to find out we were only underground beneath the Channel for 20 minutes!  Definitely not as exciting as we were originally thinking, but we did get in a few games of cards along the way.

Mary "measuring" our room

Once in London, we checked into our hotel close to Paddington station.  We had a good laugh as our room for three people was tiny, but clean and all we needed for our couple nights here.  Our hotel receptionist encouraged us to start our time at Covent Garden, so we made our way by bus and checked out the area.  As it was afternoon and the shops were shutting down (a reminder we were no longer in Paris and back in the UK), we then decided to just do some walking and take it all in.  As we turned a corner and walked into Trafalger Square, we couldn’t believe it when we saw the entire square filled with people having picnics, enjoying drinks while watching a ballet broadcast on a large screen at the front of the square.  We stayed and enjoyed for a little bit, then realized it was time for a drink!  We made our way to a pub called Clarence House and were lucky enough to find an outdoor table where we could enjoy our first beer and cider in London.  We lucked out with another beautiful night of sitting outside enjoying some drinks.  We then made our way back to hotel only for Mary and I to realize that we were hungry for some snacks.  We decided that even though we were in our pajamas, we would still head to the market across the street to pick up some sweets.  Totally worth it!  If you can just imagine Mary and I crossing the street in our pajamas with armfuls of candy...another reminder that we are sisters.

Drinks at Clarence House

We started our first full day in London by doing the good ol’ red double-decker hop-on hop-off bus.  As the sun was out, we enjoyed learning about the history of London on the top deck of the bus overlooking the city.  We decided to hop-off at the Tower of London where we were lucky enough to catch a 41 gun salute for the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation in 1953.  After the salute (a tad boring), made our way into the Tower of London where we toured the castle and saw the Crown Jewels.  After some time at the Tower, we took a river cruise and saw the city from a different perspective and enjoyed hearing some more history about the city.  We hopped off outside Parliament where we then did an afternoon of walking by Westminster, Trafalger Square, back to the Covent Gardens before finishing with some shopping on Europe’s busiest shopping street – Oxford Street!  As we had another full day, we headed back to the hotel for a good night of sleep.

Shopping bags in Piccadilly Circus

For our last day in London, we began by heading to Regent Street.  I had seen a tea shop the day before on our bus tour and wanted to stop back to check it out.  During our time here, I have been collecting tea cups, so I thought I would give this store a try to see what I could find.  And luckily we stopped as I bought the most beautiful tea cup and already have it on our living room shelf as decoration!  After the tea shop and stopping for some gelato, we took a quick tour of China Town and then finished the bus tour from the day before.  Rhonda was loving all the information, though Mary and I decided to spend the time chatting away and just taking in the sun. 

The West End after Stomp!

Our final night in London was spent at the West End.  We stopped for drinks (as you can tell, a common theme of the trip :-) and then headed to see the show Stomp.  It was definitely an upbeat show and we enjoyed seeing how you can pretty much turn anything, and I mean anything, into a musical instrument!  Once the show was finished, we headed back to our hotel room and packed up once again for our next adventure……to Truro!