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Paris!
My parents first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. 2nd Installment:
Met the parents in Paris and we spent 5 days in the gorgeous Lotti hotel. Unbeknownst to them, the Lotti was in between the Champs-Elysées and the Louvre, so we lived up the Luxe lifestyle in a prime location. It was fun playing tour guide/interpreter for them... I even made them an itinerary.
The first night out we went and got a French meal at a restaurant in the Latin quarter and I introduced them to my favorite wine, Côte du Rhône. And I don't think it was until now that they believed me that dinners in France can take 2-3 hours! Then, of course, I took them out for some gelato afterwards... and when I say took them out I mean I showed them the gelato place and then let them pay for me. Hey, you know what they say: when in Europe with your parents...let them pay for stuff 😊
The next days of course were packed with more and more tourism and expensive meals. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Arc-de-Triomphe, Hôtel des Invalides (to the WWI and WWII exhibits and also to see Napoleon's tomb), Champs-Elysées, the Sacré Coeur, and Notre
Louvre
The glass pyramid at the Louvre. Dame... you know, the standard Paris attractions. Most of them I had already seen, but it was fun to see their reactions to the sites. And other sites I had saved so that we could all experience them for the first time together like one big happy family, er... minus Derek. We also went to Versaille palace but were pretty disappointed with the tour we were on. I guess we expected there would be more to see, but I'm sure the gardens will be beautiful once they are in bloom.
There were also times we split up a bit; they went to see the Louvre but I had no desire to go again so I went to the Georges Pompidou center instead which has all the modern and contemporary art. This was BY FAR my favorite museum to date and I even saw this "VideoDance" exhibition with an experimental dance troupe and got a bit of inspiration for what I might want to do for my senior thesis next year.
I also fulfilled my goal of attending a play at the Comédie-Française! But alas, I misread the agenda and though I was trying to go to Molière's "The
Springtime in Paris!
Apparently this photo is for Dave West. It's cute ;) Misanthrope" (to see one of his comedies at his playhouse) I instead got into a Kleist play, "Penthylisée" which is a tragedy about the queen of Amazons...very different from what I was prepared for. And it didn't help that I knew absolutely nothing about the play, so I had a hard time following it.
Next stop (after a loooong looooong wait in line for the Eurostar train that goes under the English Channel and a mixup with our hotel)... LONDON!
At first, we were a little disappointed. We didn't find the London-ers to be particularly welcoming...we decided that they must still be bitter about the whole Revolutionary War and us leaving them and whatnot. Talk about a grudge...
Again, we played tourists and ambitiously decided to see all the tourist attractions in one day, which amounted to 12 miles of walking on mom's pedometer. Included in the walking tour à la Kara was the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, the London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Parliament Building, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly circus, and other random landmarks. So... what did we do after this long day of
Versaille
The chapel in Versaille where Louis the .... one of the Louis was married. (Hey, it's hard to keep them all straight...) walking? Went back to our apartment hotel and watched some British TV.
Although it was expensive, the highlight I think of both my mom and my London experience was seeing Wicked! I literally kept getting goosebumps of anticipation when we were walking around before the show killing time. Although there were aspects of the performance in Chicago that I liked better, it was still AMAZING... I'm not sure how it could not be. We really had great seats and it's probably the only show I get sad at the end just because of the fact that it is ending... tear.
We spent another whole day in Eaton, at Windsor Castle. First of all, the English countryside was beautiful. And I think we all preferred Windsor castle to Versaille because we could go through the audio tour at our own pace and it was just more impressive: the elaborate gardens, Queen Mary's dollhouse, the Armor and Knight rooms (yeah, sure, those can be the technical names, why not?) We really got the sense of the English pride and tradition founded in its history that still exists today. I think my favorite part of the castle was actually the chapel
that is within the grounds. It had the most beautiful gothic ceiling and the most impressive sculpture I have seen in my life... but too bad, they won't let you take pictures so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
Throw in a little bit of shopping, bottles of wine at almost every meal, lots of naps, and even a "home-cooked" dinner by my dad, and there you have our Paris/London trip! And I must say... after 2 straight weeks of tourist-ing... I was pooped. KO as the French would say....
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