Home Sweet Home

Well, we arrived in Eugene around 5:40 on June 18th. It was so good to see Nick!! I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and not living out of a suitcase but I do miss Paris already!

Boston to Eugene

We arrived in Boston yesterday. Amanda came out to the Harbor hotel to spend the evening with us and see the pictures of our trip. It was great to see her again but sad to say goodbye. Can't talk about it too much or I will cry again.
We are at Logan and our plane is delayed about 30 minutes so we are just sitting and waiting to sit in a metal ship for 6 hrs. to San Fran then home to Eugene tonight around 5:30.
It will be great to see Nick and Tucker and sleep in our own bed. Nick has been doing a great job of holding down the home front and taking care of Tucker. It will be so good to see him!!!

Heathrow to Boston

Last morning in London and this wonderful view of Westminster and Big Ben. All packed and ready to go to Heathrow by shuttle. It was going to be a taxi to Paddington station then the Heathrow express from Paddington which would have been about 34 pounds or the shuttle for 38 pounds which picks you up at your hotel and delivers you to your terminal. Holy cow, I will pay the extra 4 pounds for that service. If we had been staying close to Paddington station we would have taken the express but since we are on the Southbank this makes much more sense.
We loved staying on the Southbank. It is much quieter than the North bank of the Thames and the views are lovely. There is a promenade all along the Thames on this side called the Jubilee Walkway which we used every day.
Well, off to Heathrow!

Last Day in London

Ah, back to the states tomorrow but we still have one full day in London left. It is a glorious morning, the sun is shining on Big Ben and Westminster and we are having our coffee and reading the paper before we head out for the day. Today is the Tower of London, cruise on the Thames and hopefully time for Covent Garden.
Ta Ta until later

Well, we are back in our room in time to hear the 6pm chimes from Big Ben. Today we accomplished most of our goals for the last day in London. We took a river cruise on the Thames from the Westminster pier to the Tower pier. Then we spent the whole morning at the Tower of London doing the tourist thing. I was hoping it would be more gory than it was but I guess they have to keep it clean for the youngsters. They had a really wonderful exhibit on Henry VIII and all of his weapons and armor. Does anyone know what a Shaffron is? It is my new word for the week. It has to do with horses in medieval times. You'll have to look it up!
We had lunch in the Tower of London at a little cafe called the Armouries Restaurant. It was very good food and extremely reasonable prices.
We left The tower and headed over to Tower Bridge to hike to the top viewing area which is the stretch between the 2 towers. They had a really nice exhibition of bridges from all over the world. I enjoyed that!! Then we headed down to the engine rooms - I didn't enjoy that!!! It's a guy thing.
We left Tower Bridge and went for a walk over to Butlers Wharf which is a nice area right on the Thames Southbank with cafes and shops. Found a Starbucks and had an ice cold latte - YUM!!
Then we walked to Hays Gallery - another nice place with shops and cafes on the South Bank. There are so many outside cafes here on the river - too bad Eugene is so behind the times! Next we took pictures of the replica of Sir Francis Drakes "The Golden Hinde". WE just kept walking until we came to the new Millenium bridge, which is a pedestrian only bridge with great views of St Paul's Cathedral.Also, the Shakespeare Globe theater is near here.
We stayed on the Southbank until we reached out hotel - we had walked over 3 miles! It was a beautiful day so it worked out just fine. That has been our usual mileage each day with some days being around 6 miles. It is such a great way to see the city. When you take the metros you miss so much being underground and the buses have to deal with the traffic. So, as long as we stay fit, walking is our preference.
We decided to eat downtairs at Chino's again since we have to get up so early to get to Heathrow. It is a Pan Asian restaurant with wonderful food. Then we will come up and pack and enjoy our room for 1 more night.

London and Sir Paul

Headed out to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace with throngs of other tourists. Then we walked through St James Park and we were going to lunch at Inn the Park, a nice little cafe at the east end of the Park near Trafalgar Square. When we got to the restaurant was closed and the paparazzi was everywhere - Yoko Ono was there and someone else was coming. So I heard one of the security people say he's coming down the path right now. So Dan I I took off walking down the path and waited where there was no one else around. And here comes Paul McCartney with his 2 daughters, Stella and Mary. I walked up to him and casually shook his hand and he said "Ciao" to me and I said "Hello". WOW - PAUL MCCARTNEY!!!!
Should I wash my hand? He was there with Yoko, Kate Bosworth, Kelly Osbourne and a bunch of other British celebs that we have never heard of to launch "Meatless Mondays" to promote vegetarianism.
Since we could not eat at the cafe in the park we headed toward Trafalgar Square for fish and chips at the Silver Cross Pub. It was pretty mediocre fish and chips and the service was also pretty bad. Have you ever had fish fried with the skin still on? After lunch we went to St Martin in the Fields Church next to the National Gallery because I wanted to see the brass rubbing gallery in the crypt.
Then we headed to the Big Bus Company for out tour of the city. It was nice to just sit back and see the sights. We went by St Paul's Church, Tower of London, Tower Bridge,Westminster, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, Hyde Park, Kensington and Knightsbridge, etc, etc. It was definitely a good way to see the city since our time is limited here in London.
We got off the bus for about 45 mins and went into Harrods to have some coffee and a snack. What an amazing and opulent department store. The cheapest purse I saw was 1100 pounds. There was a blouse that Dan and I liked and it was on sale - FOR 185 POUNDS ($265). Geez, who shops at these places. The architecture in this store is really beautiful though and it was enjoyable to sit and admire it over cover and cheesecake. One the 1st floor there is a shrine to Diana and Dodi Fayad. One of the escalators is called the Egyptian escalators - all the walls and acoutrements are done in an Egyptian decor.
Back on the bus and it started raining so we headed back to our apartment, it was 7pm by the time we got back and raining pretty hard. Looks like room service and a movie tonight!! We are pooped! 1 more day of being tourists.
I think we are both ready to be home!

1st morning in London

Had a wonderful nights sleep off and on, the temperature in the room was a little warm for us but it was a great bed! Woke up to a typical dreary London morning - the kind you hear about back home. Dan is out for a run along the Thames and I am relaxing with a cup of coffee on the balcony typing away on the blog. The Monday morning commuters are all below me scurrying about. I will, too, be one of them in another week. But, I can't complain since this has been the trip of a lifetime for us. Although I do hope to do it again, without so many stops!!

London OMG!!!

I thought Paris was fantastic but London is amazing and everyone speaks English!!!!! We arrived to our hotel by London cabbie after getting off the train from Dover at Victoria Station. We both agreed that we should have come here instead of staying the night in Dover. Our hotel/apartment is fantastic - we have a 1 bedroom apartment overlooking the Thames with a view of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. See pictures!!!
When we arrived, there was white wine being chilled for us with chocolates in our apartment - we have no idea why but we were not going to question. I will take pictures of the apartment tomorrow so you can see what it looks like. We sat on our balcony for a while and then went out for a walk. The concierge at the desk told us about a Turkish restaurant around the corner and it had to be one of the top 3 meals we have had on this trip. I had lamb wrapped in pastry and Dan had Mediterranean shrimp. They brought a bowl of water with lemons and we were both perplexed until we realized it was to wash out fingers in - at first we thought it was some kind of Turkish soup. Stupid Americans!!!
After lunch we took a walk on the Southbank of the river under the London Eye and past about 5 bridges. We went up to the top of the OXO tower and had a drink and decided the view from our apartment was better than their view so we headed back to enjoy our room. There was a great festival going on down at the river celebrating immigrants. There was every food imaginable from every country (Ghana, Carribean, Ethiopian, Indian, etc). And lots of music and street performers.
We are back in our room relaxing and probably will just stay in tonight and enjoy the room with some room service.

To London we go!!

Woke up in our lumpy bed in Dover to the smells of the English breakfasts being prepared and the sounds of the loudest seagulls we have ever heard. The breakfast was so good that we couldn't bring ourselves to complain about the lumpy bed. It was chock full of protein - sausage, ham, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and toast. We could even see the coast of France from the breakfast room. It is raining lightly this morning so we are bypassing the Dover Castle and going straight away to London on the 11:22 train.

Crossing the English Channel

Left the apartment and walked about 1/4 mile to a taxi stand, took a taxi to the train station where there were gypsies everywhere. We really had to watch our backpacks and purse. Took the Eurostar to Calais Frethrun, which was a wonderful trip and then took a bus to the center of Callais where we caught a taxi to the Ferry terminal. Justg made the 3:25 ferry to Dover. The channel was very calm and the skies were beautiful with wispy clouds. It was a great day for crossing the English channel. Then the white cliffs of Dover came into view - how beautiful!!!







We got off the ship in Dover and we were able to walk to our B&B. We met Robert the owner who let us have the pick of rooms. We took a room in the back with a view of the white cliffs and the WWII secret tunnels used to evacuate soldiers from Dunkirk. The Castle here in dover is from Roman times - it is on the hill behind the B&B. We hope to have time to go there tomorrow before leaving for London.



Dover Castle


Tonight we walked along the Dover harbor and stopped into a Pub on the harbor called Collins Wood. We had a drink before heading to Dino's for dinner. It was recommended to us by the owner of the B&B and it was fabulous. Best Italian food we have had on the trip, even better than we had in Italy. Mama, Dino's wife, who is 77 years old, is the cook. They mixed up our order and when the waiter took it back to the kitchen Mama let loose and started yelling at him in Italian. Everyone in the restaurant could hear and there were many chuckles all around. We felt bad but the dish they brought out was beef kidneys and we were not going to eat that!! Mama even came out herself and appologized to us. All in all, it was a very entertaining dinner.

The B&B is not very good. Lumpy bed, poor lighting, bathroom down the hall and only a bathtub. But, we are only here for 1 night so it will do.
Off to London tomorrow.

Last Day in Paris :(

Well, today was our last day in the most beautiful city in the world! I am staying
for a month next time. We visited the Luxembourg Gardens today - bought
some baguette sandwiches and had a picnic in the park near the large fountain
along with about 100 Parisians and other tourists. They really love their parks here -
it is so nice to see
people out enjoying their parks. We stayed in the park for about2 hours then headed to the Pantheon.

WOW, the Pantheon in Paris is much more
interesting than the Panthe on in Rome and much larger. There is even a crypt
underneath it which we visited where many famous people are buried:
Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Rousseau, Pierre and Marie Curie
and others. It is also right next to the Sorbonne so there are lots of students
everywhere. After this we needed our afternoon petite cafe so we headed
back to the park where there were 2 little cafes - we sat and had our cafes
and the philharmonic orchestra was playing in the park. How wonderful is that?
What a lovely relaxing day we had!!


Went back to the apartment to get a little rest in before heading out for a
shopping spree and one last trip to the Eiffel Tower.
OK, time to go shopping in Paris. Went to Les Halles and it was crazy, being it was Friday night. Didn't buy much, fashion is tres expensive here in the fashion capital.
Just heard about this impromptu dinner that happened last night on the
Place du Concorde with 10,000 Parisians. Here is the link:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-269997

Took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and it was packed. Dan wanted to
climb to the top but I stayed down in the Gardens and waited.
Even with the line it only took him 1 1/2 hours to get to the top,
take pictures and climb down. He took the stairs to the 2nd level
and then you take the elevator to the top. He said it was twice as
many stairs as the Arc de Triomphe so I am that I didn't try it.
I would have had an asthma attack - damn asthma!!!!
It was a beautiful evening in the park!!!
We went back to the cafe that we had eaten in last
week on our first trip to Paris for the French Open
right on the Seine with a view of the Eiffel tower.
It was a magical last night in Paris. We sat there and had
our meal UNDER THE EIFFEL TOWER!!!!
How cool is that?











We took the metro back to St Michel (our stop)
and visited our neighborhood crepe place.
Both cousins were there and so was Johnny's
family so we took a family snapshot.
They would not even let us pay for the
crepes tonight so I gave the money to the
oldest daughter. She was thrilled!!!
Off to bed - busy day
tomorrow traveling
to the UK!!

Paris June 11th 2009

Woke up to a gorgeous morning, no more rain in sight. We took our time with breakfast in our little studio and then took the metro to Gare Austerlitz to buy our Eurostar tickets for Calais on Saturday. Then we headed to Notre Dame cathedral. It was very packed but the organist was practicing and it was mesmerizing being there. It doesn't come close to St Peter's Basilica in Rome though.






Next we headed to a little bistro with the friendliest waitresses we have seen yet and had sandwiches and salads. Everyone has been so friendly here, nothing like people have told us about. I even gave the waitress today a tip and she gave it back and so "no, no, no".
After lunch we headed to the Louvre which is enormous!! We started looking at everything in every room and decided that it would take a month to see everything so we sat down and decided what each of us wanted to see. So, without getting lost (thank God Dan is very good at maps) we went to the Mona Lisa (which is quite anticlimactic), Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory or Nike, The Dying Slave by Michelangelo, the Code of Hammurabi, Psyche and Cupid and some gorgeous sculptures too many to list.






















By this time, our feet were killing us so we left (it was closing anyway) and headed out to the Tuileries which are the gardens attached to the Louvre. The weather was beautiful and there were so many people out enjoying the day so we pulled up some chairs next to one of the fountains and took a much needed rest.










OK, enough of this rest, we have got places to go and things to see!! On to the Musee D'Orsay for some Impressionalism. It is right across the Seine from the Louvre in the old Orsay train station. First things first, we had dinner right under the giant clock in the Museum at a little cafe, then went out on the terrace for some terrific views of the city. I was very excited to see Van Gogh's Starry Starry night but unfortunately it is on loan to the MOMA in NYC. Well, no worries, we had enough to see to keep us busy until they closed at 9:45. There were paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Manet, Millet, Renoir, Whistler, Cezanne and our new favorite Camille Pissarro whose paintings are absolutely amazing - and neither one of us had never even heard of them. My Grandfather even had an original of Jean-Francois Millet that is still in our family!! So this was a wonderful day of culture for us and what better city to see it in!!



















We decided to walk back to see our friendly crepe makers downstairs from our apartment and on the way we saw hundreds of people on the Pont des Artes bridge over the Seine and it was all young people (ages 18-30) having picnics on the pedestrian only bridge. It was amazing. What a great placed for these kids to hang out. We so wanted to go get a bottle of wine and join them but don't worry, we didn't. Got a dessert crepe and headed home with a bottle of wine.
Until tomorrow - last full day in Paris!!

Paris June 10th, 2009

Ooh la la, we slept in until 1000 this morning. It was lovely but the weather was far from it and getting worse this afternoon. We had a great breakfast in our little studio and then headed out to walk from the Louvre down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and then the Invalides where Napoleon is buried. The Louvre was extremely crowded today since it was closed yesterday so we may go later tonight. The Champs Elysees was amazing with all of the shops and car showcases. We saw the James bond car from his last movie at the Astin Martin showcase (I think)!! Duh, what do I know? Amanda, you could empty your bank account in 1 hour on the Champs Elysees. We ate at a little cafe on the Champs Elysees called La Deauville, had beef bourginion and chicken Forrestier. Next, the Arc de Triomphe. Thankfully there is an underground passageway to the Arc so you do not have to navigate the cars on the Charles de Gaulle Etoile. We climbed the 284 stairs to the top of the Arc and had a fantastic view of Paris, albeit very cloudy and starting to rain. We headed down and needed a petite cafe, which we have become very used to in the afternoon. Just a shot of very strong espresso! We were getting capacinos but here in Paris they are too expensive so we are adjusting. We walked to the Invalides and sat across from it sipping our cafe as the rain was coming in stronger and stronger. We rested our legs before starting for home - which was about 2 miles away. Well, we made it and we are pretty tired so we may not make it to the Louvre tonight after all. It may be melon, prosciutto and croissants for dinner!!

We decided to go downstairs and get crepes again for dinner tonight. The creperie is run by 2 cousins from Madagascar. They are lovely and very fun to talk to. Plus, they make delicious crepes. I had ham, cheese and mushroons in a cream sauce crepe. Dan had ham, cheese and egg crepe. And of course for dessert we had a nutella and banana crepe. Bought a bottle of wine and all was good!! We needed the rest for tomorrow.