The In Between

First off, I would like to address some well-founded grievances about my last blog. It was said that my Paris blog was confusing and hard to follow. Maybe I should read over them when I am done. You know who you are, I want you to know I am making an effort to fix it.

Anyways, I just got back from Munich, Germany- so beautiful and so much fun! But we had a short couple of days before we left that I haven't had a chance to write about. It may not be as exciting as a trip to Germany, but I will still like to remember, so bear with me!

 On Monday, we went on a tour of Oxford University Press. It was pretty cool because it is such an old press and the way they had to print was so tedious. Oh and our tour guide was named Martin. I just thought that was noteworthy because can you think of an American Martin? Me neither. Also it doesn't sound right to say Martin in any other accent than a British one. (i.e.Parent Trap? we've been quoting that the ENTIRE trip) Moving on....

 Printing sounded so painstaking. Martin said that it took 7 years to fully train someone in printing and they had to know the languages backward to be able to print them. They just learned patterns of the languages (like their mirror images) so they could piece the words together and then they would stamp on the right way.

James Murray came along to Oxford Press and had the bright idea to start a dictionary. Can you imagine loving the English language so much that you wanted to write the first ever dictionary? Anyway, Oxford Press were the only ones willing to sign on to this huge job. Murray died when they were working through the letter T. It took a few million dollars (which is way more for back then) and several years to complete. It made me a lot more thankful to be able to Google a word's meaning because without these guys, we would have no dictionary, and even worse, maybe no urban dictionary or Wikipedia.

Well this is the last picture at Oxford University Press, I don't want to be too too boring. Martin had some cool ideas about where printing would go. They have their whole dictionary online and Martin thinks that a revolution is going to come very soon. Bigger than computer printing? I don't know we will see I guess.

Okay done with printing, this is cool. Monday we got out early and went to the Oxford Covered market and it was actually open! This is the entrance with lots of fresh food and as you walk in there are several places to eat, cute shops and best of all at the back, we got a milkshake. I got a loyalty card there, but for my health I should probably stay away. It was fantastic.

 Here's the back wall of the smoothie shop with very few of their flavors shown but there are probably 100 different options.

This is a picture of outside the laundry room, and even that is pretty. It was a beautiful day on Monday and we sat outside "did homework" and waited for our laundry. When we went in the laundry room we became friends with Shykirah from Malaysia. It is pronounced Shakira (Hips Don't Lie?). Anyways, she was extremely friendly, added us on facebook and asked us if we wanted to go punting! Umm, obviously I talk about punting quite often on this blog so we really want to. Hopefully we will get the chance to punt with our new friend Shakira.

That's about all that we had time to do the few days before we flew out for Munich. I am working on that blog, which will hopefully be awesome because it was awesome to be there. I am a German.

Pari Oue Oue Bougee (PARIS!!)

After we left Brussels we took the Eurostar again to arrive in Paris! (Yes that really is the Eiffel tower on the right, and its not even my best picture). I was immediately impressed. We got to our hostel and right after that, we went out to explore Paris. The first thing we stumbled upon was Notre Dame Cathedral. That is it up in the left! It is on a kind of island and it had a beautiful park in front of it. Unpleasant note: one of the guys on our trip was sitting there using the free wifi, when two women held up a petition and were blabbering at him in French. He set his phone down to talk to them and before he knew it they took his phone. Apparently people do that sort of thing with babies too. Like shove their baby (or fake baby) in your face to distract you. So clever.

Moving onto more pleasant things, we walked right by this bridge below that was the bridge of locks. The idea has spread to several big cities but it started in Paris. A man who was madly in love with either his wife or his girlfriend engraved their names on a lock, locked it to the bridge and threw the key into the Siene River. Now several people do that for anniversaries or if they are in loooove and it is packed with locks!

Right along the bridge we saw some street art and musicians and that was really fun to just walk across and hang out.

Above is just more pictures while we were walking around. This is another view of Notre Dame and a statue that was by the cathedral of Charlemagne. I unfortunately don't know much about him but someone told me he was a viking king that was responsible for bringing France together.

Shakespeare and Company is an iconic bookstore that we ran into while we were walking along. Unfortunately I was with a big group and I couldn't go in but it was cool just to stroll alongside. Maybe next time I go to Paris! (Hopefully)

I just thought I would surround my next commentary with some more beautiful pictures of Notre Dame. It had such gothic beauty and it was beautiful from every angle. Anyways, our next stop, naturally, was to get a crepe. A crepe tradition was started which we continued for the rest of the time we were there. Lemon crepe with some sugar on top and it was delicious. (We repeated with another lemon crepe the next day).

After, we walked around for a while just exploring that first night and we went to dinner, we did what we had to do. Obviously the Eiffel Tower was at the top of our list. We ambitiously set out for it from our hostel not knowing how long it was. It took about an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back. It was worth it! I didn't think I could have too many pictures of it so I included almost all of them. Enjoy! We looked up the distance when we got back and it was about 3.5 miles each way, so we definitely worked off all the crepes we ate in Paris.

(This is my favorite picture so I saved it for last!) Once we finally got to the Eiffel Tower we just laid out on the lawn and looked up at it, got some ice cream, (with slews of people offering wine, champagne? keychain? everywhere. It was illegal, as it should've been) Anyways that did not stop us from sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower and enjoying it. At the top right I got a picture of the light show we got to see at the Eiffel Tower. Every hour they would have a five minute light show and the whole thing would light up and twinkle. So beautiful.

The next day on the Fat Tire Bike Tour we ended up at the Eiffel Tower and the guide told us that the man who built it paid for the entire thing himself. Labor, construction, materials, everything. No one thought it would be worth it and the real estate right around that area was extremely cheap because everyone thought the tower would fall down on their houses. But he proved them all wrong and he made his money back on his investment after just 6 months. Amazing.

That next morning we got up and went shopping in Paris. When we finally got to the street the markets on it was a blast. I got several pictures but on the right is one of the market stands. LIVE crab (which some of us found out by picking up) and other fish, fruits, vegetables and just about anything you could want. So colorful and a really fun atmosphere.

At what felt like the center of the market there was a little band playing some pretty music and this lady dancing (who was hilarious). She had some moves and she was outwardly showing how much we inwardly just enjoyed the music they were playing. She was there a while kind of like a groupie.

Unfortunately I couldn't buy all the fresh fruit, pastries, fish and all that they had to offer but I settled on this one place. LOOK at those desserts. It was mouthwatering. I put pictures of what I settled on down lower.


French is rough and I am terrible at pronouncing so it was a really interesting experience. I kept saying "Anglais?" which I think is how you say English? in English but the lady thought I was ordering. So i just kept repeating that and she eventually understood what I was asking, but didn't speak English. This lead to me pointing, shaking and nodding my head a lot but we eventually communicated because I got what I wanted. Just look.

I got this delicious quiche and my favorite part of it all this peach pastry thing. It had fresh peaches on a kind of flaky pastry with peach juice and sugar on it. It was delicious. I put a picture of it half finished so you can see what it looked like halfway through. I am sure you were wondering.

FAT TIRE BIKE TOUR was so great. That is what we did in the early afternoon. Really funny story on how we got there though. We were just shopping and we were on the other side of Paris when we realized that we needed to get over there, but we thought we allowed plenty of time. When we got down there it was confusing because the trains and metros were on the same maps. It was making us late. But while we were down there, a really nice guy (I think his name was Lucien?) asked if we needed any help and turns out he was going to the Eiffel Tower too (which was where we were supposed to meet for the tour).

Now I realize this could've been risky, but we were desperate and careful, obviously. He knew his way around Paris and we basically had to sprint from each metro station and he was so nice, he ran with us. At one point it was ironic because we were running through the underground and it felt like movie theme music was playing for us. All perfect. Funny now, exhausting and worrisome at the time.

Anyways, we barely made it onto the right metro, and when we got off we all ran really hard to meet the group and we made it! Our friend Lucien was so sweet and put up with our craziness and got us there on time. Thanks so much to Lucien because it was so much fun. Bre called him our guardian angel. Oh that picture is my bike which was named Gem.

This is the first stop on the Fat Tire Bike Tour. It is a church that holds Napolean's tomb. It is so huge that it below an open entry that you have to bend over to be able to see the whole thing. The tour guide told us that he designed his tomb that way so people who went and saw it had to bow down to him. Supposedly Hitler went to see Napolean's tomb and just when he was about to bend over he stopped took out a mirror and used it to see the whole thing. But as he was leaving the place he dropped his scarf, turned around and bowed to pick it up...in the direction of Napolean's tomb. Now this could all be an entertaining story he made up but it was indeed entertaining so I thought I'd share.

Bottom left is the other side of the building which used to be a military hospital but is now a musuem. It was built by Louis the 14th, where he has put an engraving of himself on the building and they used it to nurse all of his troops to health. In the front there are canons that are directed at the Royal place across the bridge.
It was supposedly like a challenge for the royalty to do a wrong against them because they had weapons ready to use against them. Interesting.

On the top right is some of the ornate statues that lined the bridge between the old military hospital and the palace across the bridge. There are our bikes! He said that this beautiful bridge was built in honor of peace with Russia. On one side the statues are warring figures and on the opposite there are people celebrating peace. Ricardo (our tour guide) said that several movies have scenes here and people get married here or take pictures often. On Saturday we saw at least 5, all at one time!

This is a terrible picture of the Place de la Concorde. He mentioned Devil Wears Prada, because Anne Hathaway tossed her phone in the fountain here, which I didn't get a picture of. Where that tall pointy statue is (its a Egyptian statue) is where Marie Antoinette and Louis the 16th (it could be an earlier one) got beheaded. There's also a hotel here where it costs 13000 pounds a night to stay at and it is where the winner of the Tour de France can stay for a week, free, with their country flag hanging above it.

After this we rode our bikes into the gardens behind the Musee de Louvre, which we went to the next day.

Below is a mini version of the Arc de Triomphe that is behind the Louvre. On the top of it there is some statues that originally were stolen from some Italian musuem that they kept in Paris. Eventually when they reconciled though they gave them back and these are just a replica of the original that they used to have. That was kind of funny.

After the Fat Tire Bike Tour we went out to dinner and I shared this pizza with Hallie. It was Ham, Cheese and it had egg on it. They really like putting eggs on most everything seems like. It was delicious!

Below are very few pictures I took of the Louvre. That was a really cool experience, because in the first rooms we went into, some of the art was from 450 BC. It was almost unfathomable. On the right is the Venus de Milo and we also got to see the Mona Lisa. It was so massive and almost overwhelmed me there was so much to see. Someone told me that if you looked at every painting for 30 seconds, it would take you 5 years to see everything!

Its not the Eiffel Tower but what we did when we got back Sunday was pretty great. Chicken and cheese nachos, salsa, Dr. Pepper and Oreos and peanut butter in honor of the Parent Trap (which we watched). Perfect way to end a fantastic weekend in Paris.

Brussels, Belgium...interesting

 Brussels, Belgium was an interesting place. Maybe not my favorite place in the world but I learned a lot while we were there. When we first got there we went to the European Commission. The European Commission is the group from all 27 countries that are part of the European Union that make up the legislation that is then sent to the European Parliament to vote on (which we visited the next day). It was a very cool, professional place and white all up and down.

To the left is right outside of our hostel in a little square. We took the Eurostar to Brussels and got there in the early afternoon to the European Commission. After that we were free and we went around Brussels to see what was happenin there. There were SO many Belgian chocolate places and waffle places. Naturally I had a waffle for dinner.

 I have seen several of these which I never see in the states. It was a little smart car and they had chargin stations, kinda cool.



Generally it seemed like Brussels was a cool place with lots of history but it hasn't been preserved very well or maintained. The coolest thing was the Grand Place but after a couple of hours I was done!

 "Can you hear me now?", "This shoe is D-licious" - Its a sneaker thing. Foot Locker.

Just amused me. Some different advertising. This left one is how I would imagine Molly if she were in charge of advertising a shoe.

 NOW I don't know if you can see this but this here is some Belgian Waffles, done right. There were strawberry banana, nutella, chocolate, and Emily got toffee. I will say this made up for Brussels a little bit.


Before we got a waffle, we got some equally delicious fries. Pictured below, delicious as well.

 At the very bottom I got a picture of the European Parliament. The guy we talked to was very interesting. He talked about the difficulties that the Parliament faces with so many cultural and language differences. He asked where we were from and when we said Texas he said "My ex lives in Texas." Then we all started laughing but he didn't get it. Dr. Lynn was quick to say Its a Song!

Grand place was pretty cool, but I was hoping to see some pretty flowers as a rug, but apparently that is a festival, not all of the time.

 After the Grand Place we got a waffle and headed back. Mine had chocolate and strawberries and it was good. I also got a picture with the stand that I got it from, they all looked good.

The big room where Parliament meets was closed but we got to go into this part which was still impressive. The guy talked about how on the halls you can walk by and hear several languages all being spoken because there are representatives from all 27 EU countries. The main languages they use are English, French and German but they make all the amendments in every single language. So each is several hundred pages.

I thought it was funny he said that the French and German don't get along and almost hit each other. Very funny. But Germany is a big powerhouse in the EU and will probably help Greece bailout of our crisis because they are so rich in comparison to every one else.

Next is Paris and it was fantastic. That one is to come and I am going to Munich, Germany on Wednesday!!

Music of the Night

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA- entrance

  After the CRAZY day in London it has been kind of quiet. Sunday I slept until noon without realizing it, we went to a pub to have tea and wifi and learned not everyone here is so friendly. After a couple of hours, they shut off our wifi. We were a little shocked that she didn't at least tell us! Rude, but there is also unpoliteness in USA as well.

Monday we traveled all as a group to Reading Henley School of Business. We got a speech from one of their professors which was good and then we headed to a large branch of Johnson & Johnson. They were so welcoming and it seems like they have a lot going for their company. It is really interesting to see how they run their business for so many diverse European countries. One example they used was the Nordic countries because they don't believe in medicine but natural remedies. They actually have pharmacists that tell their patients to go home and don't buy the medicine. Kind of peculiar but very interesting to me. Monday night was a good old-fashioned movie night!!

Okay NOW, did you see that picture up there? Doesn't tell you much but we went to Phantom of the Opera and let me tell you it was awesome. I got chills at the beginning when they started to revive the old Opera and the Phantom of the Opera music came on. I literally was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The music, the cast, the production was all INCREDIBLE. I love musicals and they lived up to my standards. 

 Cheyenne and I before the play started (does the excitement show on my face?). At the bottom is Bre, Hallie and I, and I didn't mean to cute Cheyenne out, sorry Chey!

A couple of things to note: at the beginning the when the girl started singing her AHH aHH AHH intro part (if you know the play you may get it)sequence I was amazed. I swore it was a soundtrack I have never heard anyone go that high so perfectly.

 Also, they had some amazing sets. The phantom brings her down into her waters and they made the stage foggy, had candles coming up through the fog, with beautiful music all the while and it looked like water on the stage with a boat floating on it (he was punting! like i mentioned before). You didn't have to imagine too much they painted the picture so well.

To the left is the front of the theatre: Her Majesty's Theatre. I guess this is on the famous West End, but I don't know. Another thing to mention is when we were walking we came out at Piccadilly Circus and passed a movie "cinema" they call it, on our way to the theatre. Someone said there was a British movie star there that was in Star Trek. Now, if that was true I am extremely disappointed. Benedict Cumberbatch was possibly there, and I walked right by him. But for now, I am assuming that he was not there so I can sleep at night. You may not know who that is but he seems pretty cool. He's the bad guy on Star Trek. One of those bad guys you will love, trust me. Anyways the top picture is after they dropped the cover and the theatre came to life, also it was intermission. I have been listening to the Phantom of the Opera while I wrote this to set the mood. 

Today we had a guest speaker from the London School of Economics and he was good but a little too sure that his opinions would save the world's economy. The men loved him but I think the women thought he was a little arrogant, so that was interesting. Extremely smart and very sure of himself and his ideas. That's an economist for you. For example, he said that his mom's eye treatments were so expensive and he loves her but he thinks it is unreasonable that Medicaire pays for them. Whats an extra 5 to 10 years of eyesight? Anyways, thats just one example of what he was like.

Toniht a lot of us cooked dinner together, ate and hung out in the Stewarts' flat again. Got a little George Strait going on the guitar among some other stuff. So fun.

Okay here it is Molly. Miss Selfridge. Do you see that? I plan on going in there, I am sure it is glamorous and the owner is quite a character. I wonder if she's American and her store is the first of its kind?

Off to Brussels, Belgium tomorrow and then onto Paris, France on Friday. Won't blog for a few days then I'll have a long one!