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Published: October 29th 2007
I have recently returned from a great weekend with Aunt Pat exploring London and Paris. Last Wednesday, she arrived in London where I met her after my class for a stroll around London and a delicious dinner at Taman Gang, a great restaurant near Marble Arch. Taman Gang is an Asian restaurant with a wonderful atmosphere. It was so nice to have some food I didn't have to cook in my flat! We ate dumplings, tempura vegetables and soft shell crab, and fried rice and noodles - all very delicious! After dinner, I headed back to Egham and on Thursday Aunt Pat came to visit so I could show her around the campus. Then she bought my friends and me dinner which we ate in my kitchen in my flat. Usually once a week we will have a potluck dinner and all get together and eat. It was a nice change to not have to cook and it was a great chance for Aunt Pat to meet my friends here at Royal Holloway. Then Aunt Pat and I took the train back to London. We stayed at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, the same place I stayed 7 years ago the first
Champs Elysees
the widest street in the worldtime I was in London. It was amazing walking into the lobby and feeling like I was just there...it was exactly as I remembered it! When Aunt Pat had checked in earlier in the day, her room wasn't ready yet, so they upgraded her to a junior suite...what luck! It was a great room and the hotel is in the perfect location, right on the River Thames and close to the London Eye and Parliament.
When we woke up in the morning, we took the 10:10 Eurostar train from London Waterloo to Paris. It's so amazing that in about 2 and half hours we left England and were in France! The train was filled with rugby fans as this weekend was the Rugby World Cup Final in Paris between South Africa and England. Since the Eurostar is so convienent, it was easy for English fans to take the train to watch the game in Paris. Before we left for Paris, we knew there was a public transportation strike going on (most likely due to the French being bitter over their defeat in rugby last week...someone told us that if the French were in the finals, they would not be
on strike!). Since we couldn't take the metro to our hotel, we had to wait in the queue for a taxi for over an hour. The streets were so crowded since everyone needed to take a taxi or drive everywhere without public transportation.
Once we arrived safely to the hotel, we found out that once again we had been upgraded to a junior suite for no apparent reason! It was a beautiful hotel and it was in the perfect location...right down the street from L'Arc de Triomphe and a block away from the Champs Elysees. We took a walk down the Champs Elysees to try to find this great cafe we went to last time we were in Paris, and surprisingly we found it! As soon as we saw it we knew it was the place we went 6 years ago with the great pastries. It's called Laudree and it has beautiful decorations inside and delicious food and hot chocolate. Apparently they have a few throughout France and even one inside Harrods! The city was so packed, most likely because of the rugby game. There was so much traffic and congestion, and between the rugby game and strike, I'm
sure it made typical Paris conditions even worse.
We had asked our concierge to make reservations at a restaurant on Rue de Beethoven which we ate at last time and were so impressed with the meal after walking for what seemed like forever to find it! Unfortunately something got lost in translation and we ended up at this strange restaurant that seemed like it had some kind of cult following or something. So we quickly left that restaurant but had no idea where we were! We kept roaming and trying to find out way back to the Champs Elysees because that would be guaranteed to have good restaurants. We never found our way back, but eventually ended up in the area of all the embassies (and there seemed to be something exciting going on at the US Embassy!) Aunt Pat knew that the Crillon was right around the corner from the embassies and right down the street from that was the famous Maxim's restaurant. We went to Maxim's and had delicious crab bisque, freshly cooked chicken, mashed potatoes and spinach. There was also a lot of singing and music and dancing going on during dinner and it got more
crowded as the night went on. After dinner we went next door to the Crillon for a glass of wine. Just the lobby itself was amazing, so I can't even imagine what the rooms are like!
On Saturday morning, we meant to wake up early to get a start on the day, but somehow we forget to get a wakeup call and didn't get out of the hotel until close to noon! That is so unlike us traveling! So we decided to do a bus tour to get a general view of the city. Once again, the traffic was insane so it took us a while to get everywhere. We saw Notre Dame, but didn't go in since we did that last time we were in Paris and we also passed on the Louvre. However this time we went to the Opera House which I had never been to before and it was amazing! I felt just like I was in the Phantom of the Opera. We couldn't see the auditorium because they had rehearsal but we explored the rest which includes the grand staircase, the library, a small museum and a beautiful hall with chandeliers. After the Opera
House, we went across the street for lunch and had a croque monsieur for lunch - it was so French! Whatever people may say about the French, there is definitely no denying that they know their food!
Saturday night, we went to the Moulin Rouge, which was such a wonderful experience! The building itself is fascinating and everything is so organized. We were seated at a table with a family from Australia who had been traveling around the UK on holiday and had just arrived in Paris from Edinburgh. We had dinner first - I had escargots as an appetizer (even though we think they were really mussels they tried to pass off as snails), veal for dinner and mille feuilles for dessert. Then at 9 the show started which was amazing! The costumes were so exquisite and the scenery was amazing. Not to mention the unbelievable singing, dancing and choreography! After the show, we wanted to go out, but everything in Paris closes so early...not like New York at all! Since public transportation was down, there would have been no way to get back to our hotel and no taxis were running since they all stop so early.
So instead we went back to our hotel and relaxed so we could get an early start the next day.
Sunday started with an amazing breakfast at the hotel (which we sadly missed the day before). Then we went to the River Seine to take a boat tour of the city. I love seeing it at night, but we didn't have enough time this trip! It was a nice day so we still got to see beautiful views of the city and learn more about it. Then we went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower since last time I was only on the 2nd floor. It was a long wait to get all the way up, but it was worth it! I think it's something everyone should do when in Paris! After the Eiffel Tower we went to Montmartre for lunch. Montmartre is such a cute part of Paris and it's a shame we didn't have more time to spend there. It's out of the center city of Paris and has lots of cute cobblestone streets, churches, shops and restaurants. It was a great way to end a fun weekend! We took the Eurostar back to London
and I was back in Egham!
Monday was Aunt Pat’s last day in London, so after my class I met up with her and we went to dinner in Covent Garden. I love that part of London and I’m planning on going back much more. The restaurant was suggested to us by the concierge at the Royal Horseguards, and it was phenomenal! The ambiance was great too - there was a fireplace and the walls were made out of freshly trimmed herbs which weren’t too fragrant. It was another delicious dinner and I think Aunt Pat and I both agreed it was a fantastic way to end her visit.
As much fun as it is to travel and as cultural as Paris is, I still think London is the city for me, and I've been finding that every time I travel I get homesick for London. It always feels so good to be back in England, my new “home” until December! Goodbye until next time when I will write about my weekend in Belgium!
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barbara majkszak
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Let's Go
Paris and London sound so wonderful...can't wait to visit. We'll have an experienced tour guide in London!