My wish has finally come true. I had the chance to visit England and France this past June! The unforgettable trip lasted nine days--two of those being travel days. I am going to break our trip down day by day in a journal-type fashion:

Day 1--Monday, June 14, 1999

Everyone meets at Port Columbus Intl. Airport excited as could be. I don't think the fact that I was traveling to Europe had hit me yet--I wasn't really excited at this point. After an hour delay our plane took off bound for O'Hare, the major airport in Chicago. We waited for nearly four hours to board our plane bound for Heathrow Airport in London. We boarded at appx. 7:30PM. The plane ride seemed like it would never end! My stomach was so upset!!! I got 45 min. of sleep on the plane!

Day 2--Tuesday, June 15, 1999

We begin to circle London--the plane is actually going to land after an eternal amount of time in the air. Arrival at Heathrow was at appx. 9:00AM. It started to hit me now. I wasn't in Kansas anymore! We met up with our group and boarded the bus that would take us to our hotel, The Royal Eagle Hotel. For the two nights that we stayed in London I roomed with Clinton Wright. The room was very small--two single beds and a closet for a bathroom. But the worst thing about it was NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! I had to overlook it! We were in London, England and nothing was going to spoil that.

After refreshing myself with a shower six of us started towards Hyde Park while the other three (Mindy, Mike, and Bryan) went off to themselves. The walk to Hyde Park was relatively short. The whole area was so beautiful that it is hard to describe. We eventually found Kensington Palace with its dream-like gardens. We started off towards Harrods (one of the biggest, if not the biggest, department stores in the world) and then to Hard Rock Cafe. Dinner was to be at 6:00 at a cafe next to the hotel. We had 45 mins to get back there via "the tube". We had to ask for directions a couple of times and the English were more than willing to help us. Dinner had not started yet but we were late by about 15 mins. The meal consists of a delicious soup and sphagetti with a chili-type sauce. It wasn't all that good! After dinner six of us went out to explore on our own. Four of them decided to return to the hotel but Mike and I tried out a pub instead. I can't remember the name of it but it was right across from the huge Paddington Station on a side street. I had three screwdrivers while Mike tried the beer!!! We were both tipsy by the time we returned to the hotel. Mrs. Kern was waiting for us in the lobby and explained to us that the rules stated we were not to be out alone after dark. How we got by her I do not know. We got up to our rooms and I was out cold.

Day 3--Wednesday, June 16, 1999

I woke up slightly late for breakfast, which was in the basement hotel dining room. I had bread and Orange Juice for breakfast--something that would repeat itself for some days to come. Everything began to rattle when the subway ran underneath the hotel--kinda freaky! We boarded the bus with our CHAtour guide, Chantel, who was 100% French (she would push people out of her way, her teeth had not been seen by a dentist in years, she wore clothes that were seductive, etc.) and our London tour guide and began our "official tour" of London. We visited St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace while we drove past other sites such as the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben (actually the tower that holds the bell "Big Ben" see below), and No. 10 Downing Street (the official residence of the prime minister).

The tour ended with lunch at a French cafe where I had something close to roast beef--full of fat I tell ya! At this point, Mindy and Bryan went next door to McDonalds and brought it back to the cafe!!! After lunch, all nine of us (Mrs. Kern making it nine) took the subway to the Tower of London where we debated for 20 mins whether to pay 10 Pounds to go inside of its walls. I am so glad that we chose to tour it! It was quite fascinating!

We saw the different towers where the prisoners from long ago had been held and the private place of execution, the Tower Green. The White Palace (which can be seen in the picture above) had been the residence of the monarchs for many years including King Henry VIII himself. Before leaving the tower, we saw the crown jewels. After returning to the hotel to freshen up, Katie, Clinton, and Mrs. Kern started towards the theatre district to see "Cats" (the broadway musical) while the rest of us had dinner at McDonalds. The idea of people ordering Lamb McSpicy's sickened me! Our plans for the evening were simple--we were going to a kareoke pub, which was on the same street as the hotel but it had to have been six or seven blocks away. Mindy had the chance to sing for everyone and was even hit on by an older man! Everyone had at least one drink at the pub--I had 2 Rum & Coke's, 3 Screwdrivers, and 2 shots of Vodka. I was plastered but not as much as Bryan. He was doing cartwheels on the way back to the hotel. Thank goodness Melissa and Bethany were with us to get us back to the hotel. Luckily Mrs. Kern and the other two travelers had not returned yet. Six of us (Mindy, Clinton, Bryan, Melissa, Mike, and I) played Truth or Dare that night until 3AM I think!!!

Day 4--Thursday, June 17, 1999

Talk about feeling lousy in the morning! We boarded the bus and left our hotel and London behind. The bus would take us to Stonehenge, the historic town of Salisbury, and to the English Channel in order to board the ferry that would in turn take us to France. Stonehenge was okay--no biggy. Mike bought his bear, Niegel, here and it would become an interesting aspect of our vacation. The cathedral in Salisbury wasn't much better. The architecture was beautiful inside and out but...We spent five hours on the ferry crossing the English Channel. In those five hours we had dinner and found the arcade, casino, and bar upstairs. I had two shots of Vodka at the same that a chaparone was coming down the hallway--her name was Sandy Becker and she from Akron, Ohio with four female students. Sandy became our main "tour guide" in Paris--she knew it inside and out. After finally reaching Le Havre, France we reached our hotel where I roomed with Bryan. French hotels suck! Bryan and I slept on the floor--the beds and pillows were that bad!!!

Day 5--Friday, June 18, 1999

More bread and orange juice for breakfast! We boarded the bus bound for the D-Day beaches. But before we reached them we payed a visit to the American cemetary containing the graves of the soldiers who risked their lives on D-Day (actually it's the same cemetary that can be seen at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan). After the cemetary we visited a museum with artifacts from the D-Day invasion. Pretty neat but entirely in French except for the movie we watched. Well, the movie that I only half-watched...hey, I had to find sometime to catch up on my sleep!!! The bus took us on a 2 or 3 hour drive to another part of France known as Mont St. Michel. Basically it's an island town with a huge monetary at the top that used to house hundreds of monks. We then drove some more and more and more to our hotel. Bryan and I slept on the floor again!

Day 6--Saturday, June 19, 1999

Do I need to tell you what I ate for breakfast? Today we visited two French chateaux (french for castles or palaces)--Chamboard and Cheneceaux (sp???)--they were beautiful!!! After travelling all afternoon we FINALLY arrive in Paris. Our tour guide pointed out the tunnel which ended the life of Princess Diana and her boyfriend. Our hotel was in a Paris ghetto--the neighborhood was that bad!!! After resting for awhile, our group took "le metro" (which stunk to high heaven of human urine) to the Eiffel Tower area. We decided not to go to the top of it till the next day.

Day 7--Sunday, June 20, 1999

I ate very little for breakfast. Our group took a bus tour of Les Champs Elyssee (the main avenue in Paris) where we saw L'arc de Triomphe, Le Louvre (ex-royal palace and now a museum), among other things. We then got off of the bus and toured Notre Dame, which was partially under renovation. Versailles (the palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV) was our next stop. Talk about beautiful architecture (see below)!

The palace started out as a hunting lodge and then Louis XIV got ahold of it! The area is covered by breath-taking gardens and fountains. One of the rooms here, the Hall of Mirrors, was where the Treaty of Versailles was signed--this ended World War I. Later on we went to a French department store and back to the Eiffel Tower (below).

We went up all the way to the top where it was quite windy!!! Then we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe and returned to the hotel.

Day 8--Monday, June 21, 1999

I don't even remember going to breakfast this morning! We spent the entire morning visiting Le Louvre where we saw many famous painting including "The Mona Lisa"(below).

Outside we took a group picture with my camera--the only picture that I have of all nine of us (which I will scan soon). This evening we took a cruise on the Seine River--kinda neat, I guess! After returning to the hotel, we had a drinking party in our room. Vodka! I had 9 or 10 shots of it! It was great! Mrs. Kern and two other travelers had not returned yet! So it was all good!

Day 9--Tuesday, June 22, 1999

We spent the morning shopping in the little shops on our street. I bought two bottles of wine to bring home. The bus then took us to the Charles De Gaulle Airport where we spent half the day waiting for our flight. The international plane took us to airport in Washington D.C. where we transferred to an extremely small plane that would take us back to Port Columbus. We arrived around 11:00PM. The trip was over, just like that!

My Conclusion

This is going to be a trip that I will never forget. It was a real priviledge to be able to go in the first place. Both England and France had their pros and cons--in the itinarary above it seems like I criticized Paris and France a whole lot. The French culture did not impress me very much. I found the French to be rude and very unattractive people to be around. Besides they carried their bread (baggette) under their armpit. Eww!!! The English on the other hand were very friendly and their British accent was quite amusing. For the most part, London seemed to be a lot cleaner than Paris. I don't think I would ever go back to Paris unless it was a cheap, cheap, cheap trip. I'm planning right now on returning to London next March (2000). Every aspect of London that I had dreamed it to be came true for me on this trip. I can't wait to return!!!

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