starlingsacrossthepond

Our second day in Paris started out like most of our other days...early! The goal of the morning was to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. I had read that you needed to get there early if you wanted to see the Mona Lisa so we got up early and headed down there. We walked to our normal Metro stop and navigated our way to the Louvre. The train was a little bit busier than it was the day before but we were all able to stay together. Louvre We exited the Subway and followed a sign that we thought said Louvre. Well, Louvre was in the word of the sign the rest of the sign was in French. We really should have listened to that French CD a little bit closer. We had it ... read more

Today we travel from London to Paris by the Eurostar. This train goes over 180 miles per hour and goes under the English Channel. How cool is that! Last night we packed up everything so we could take it easy this morning. Kelsey, Megan and Alton got up early so that they could go take a picture at Abbey Road and see the 9 3/4 train (Harry Potter) at the King's Cross train station that is at the same place where we catch our train to Paris. Me, Jeff, the boys and mom all just hung around and took it slow. Ok, maybe we took it a little too slow because after going through the underground we were almost late to catch our train. Opps. I thought the train station would be just like the train ... read more

We had a couple of things planned for today. We were going to see the Changing of the Guards, meet a college friend of mine and ride the London Eye. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then we headed out the hotel doors for our first day of adventure in London. Buckingham Palace For the two days that we are in London there is a bike event that is called Ride London. I equate it to a 5k or 10k festival or in Tallahassee terms Springtime Tallahassee except London had about 90k participants in this event. Streets are blocked which has caused some disruption in the bus service and cab service. We chose to take the Underground. I've taken a subway a time or two we might be able to do this. The Underground station ... read more

Mike has left us and we are now on our own to wander the streets of Edinburgh. Let's see if we can do this. We only had one ticket today and that was for the Real Mary King's Close tour at 10:30 am. That means we finally get a chance to sleep in. Yeah! Well, we were all slow moving so we barely made the tour. Thank goodness for the Premier Inn receptionist and a quick cab. Real Mary King's Close I had no clue why this attraction was called a 'close'. I actually kept telling everyone that we were going to Mary King's Closet. Lesson time, it is actually called 'Close' because close means street. So, in American terms this would actually read Mary King's Street. The main street in Edinburgh is called the Royal ... read more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRB-DOG!!! Warning: Lengthy entry. Get a glass of wine, relax and enjoy todays events. Also, I am not a historian so do not study for any history exams based off this blog. Oh, don't tell me I am wrong about any of the history. Please let me live in my ignorant bliss. --- Waking the boys up this morning was chore. The curtains were wide open, tv blarring and every light was on and these boys were not moving an inch. I tried every trick outside of throwing cold water on their face. After about 20 minutes of harassing they finally woke up. The hotel we are staying at has an option to purchase breakfast with your room reservation. They serve continental and a hot breakfast. We opted to include the breakfast in our ... read more