PARIS

jabrownie12345 — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:13:00 GMT

PARIS...

We arrived in Paris on the chunnel high speed train from London. Slept some on the train...and we were wiped out having woke up at 4am to catch our cabbie to Waterloo Station. A nice guy from Boston helped direct us to our hostel...not too far from the Guar du Nour train station. Stashed our bags and went to find a cafe to chill until check in. Dorcie knows some French...I only know to translate some from Spanish. An espresso, oj, and crossaint sat well with us as we enjoyed the weather, studied the map, and watched the people on the street. A young guy, Walter, from London, offered to take our pic and we spent the next hour chatting with him. Beautiful first morning! We were pleasantly surprised to find how nice our place was compared to the last hostel...our own bathroom!?! We freshened up and jumped on the metro to get to our Fat Tire Bike Tour over by the Eiffel Tower. It started at 3...eeek...we cut it close. When we got there we saw the Texas flag hanging and it turns out the owner is from Austin...and all the guides are Aggies! It was amusing...a small world. I jumped on my first bike...EVIL...and our tour guide, took us past

LONDON

jabrownie12345 — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:16:00 GMT

LONDON...

We arrived in London on Tuesday, July 10th @ 1:00pm. Figured out the rail to the Orient Express/St. Christopher's Inn and made ourselves at home. We met a Canadian chick, Lauren, and scoped out some of the city with her. That evening we were exhausted from our lack of sleep on the plane and the time change...so we grabbed some great pizza by the hostel and hit the sheets. We woke the next morning to a funky smell of feet and body odor and small quarters...ewww...5 girls/3 boys/8 bunks. After a quick shower and the free breakfast of toast, jam, and strong coffee...we headed towards our free tour of the city. We walked all day...nearly 11 hours but it was an AMAZING stroll around the city. We truly saw the heart of London! We went to the local bar-pub to grab a drink and get change to use the internet...well, one drink led to another...which led to laughing and dancing to karaoke...Michael Jackson...ow! WE were the loud, late entries into the room...poor little 18 year olds! Our next day in London was our last...and we wanted to recover from our marathon walk. I went for a lovely jog in the drizzle...over the London Bridge...through the financial district and the Royal Exchange...down the Thames River to the London Eye around and back to the Millenium Ped Bridge...across to the Shakespeare Theater and over small cobblestone roads to the Borough Market and our hostel. A quick shower and breakfast led us to a leisurely walk for my first pistachio gelato...mmmm...my first chicken pasty...and a smoothie at Borough Market. Got packed up and headed to the freak show at Picadilly Circus...much like our Times Square-New York!

Live, love, travel...

PARIS

PARIS...

LONDON

LONDON...