I couldn't ask for better people to live with! They make everyday unique!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A day in Glasgow, a day in Edinburgh
Hello,
Have a great day! :) Love Hayley and Jacob
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| Jacob holding the Pizza Hut menu |
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| Aldis! |
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| Sadly I can't take credit for this amazing picture. This is all Jacob! |
Jacob and I and the rest of the house went on a day trip to Glasgow, Scotland yesterday for our Scotland history course. We started the day off bright and early and left the house at 7:30. I slept the entire bus ride (1.5 hours). When we got to Glasgow we went to the Celtic stadium which is Glasgow's football (soccer) team. It was cool but nothing like our football stadiums here. Our Packer stadium is amazing compared to this stadium. Also their gift shop was dirt cheap, we could buy a jersey for 15 pounds and obviously we could never buy a Packer jersey for 15 dollars. Jacob and I considered buying some Celtic memorabilia but neither of us like soccer, and we don't know anyone else who likes soccer so we ended up leaving the store empty handed. We then went to the Glasgow museum and that's great and all but museums really aren't my thing. Then we spent some time shopping and ate Pizza Hut again. Oops. Then we basically left Glasgow. All in all that day trip was pretty boring and I feel like I could have been doing something more productive with my time such as homework, etc.
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| Me at the Celtic Stadium |
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| Jacob and the boys Tim, Ben (Jacob's host brother and my work partner), Travis, Grant, Jimmy, and Jacob |
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| ? Smoke much? |
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| My Love |
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| Edinburgh |
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| Yes, flowers are growing here. Be jealous! |
Today Jacob and I went in to Edinburgh to figure out some last minute details for when my family arrives here. We found their hotel, stopped at the bus and train stations and walked around the city. The greatest find was the Louis Vuitton store, that I didn't know existed in Edinburgh. We wanted to hike up Arthur's Seat today but once we reached the trail the sun was already starting to set and we didn't know if the trail would be lit when we would walk back down so we decided against it. I figure we will hike it when my family comes and it will be more fun.
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| The Glasgow Train station |
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| The sun again :) |
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| Arthur's Seat |
Have a great day! :) Love Hayley and JacobThursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Paris Day 2
Day 2 (Sunday the 20th) started in Paris with Jacob and I waking around 10 a.m. and deciding that we should start to figure out how to get home the next day. Our flight was due to leave on Monday morning at 7:15 with boarding the plane at 6:40 a.m. We figured that we would have to leave our hotel around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. in order to be at the airport 2 hours early which is usually recommended and with my punctuality it was a "must". So we were weighing our options such as take a taxi which would have been 50 euros ($68.00) which was more than our hotel costed us per night, take the buses or take the train and the metros. We went and asked our receptionist what she thought and she told us that our only option was the taxi because the trains, buses and metros didn't start running until 5 a.m.
So we asked the receptionist if we could cancel our room for the night and then we would just leave for the airport that night and spend the entire night there. She said that it was not a problem and that she understood our situation. They ended up not charging us a fee for canceling only 6 hours in advance which was greatly appreciated on our part. And on top of that they let us keep our backpacks there for the day so we could continue to explore the city without another 20 pounds on our backs. So we left our backpacks at the hotel and went out into the city for the last time.
We first took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe because I really wanted to see it. So we got off the metro and to my excitement we ended up walking by the Louis Vuitton store (Again I wish Brittney Reissman would've been with me). I told Jacob that we had to go in, so I thought of course I would just buy a keychain or a scarf assuming that they would be ten times cheaper than any of the purses and shoes that they sell. I looked at both and both cost around 250 euros ( $351) . There was no way that I was spending $351 on a keychain when I could spend that much money at home and get an amazing Coach purse or something. So we went to the upper level and to my surprise they had a book section. I scoured these bookes to find the cheapest one and one that was in English and not French, and finally found "the one". It was called Place to Kiss in Paris and was in English as well. I turned it over and to my relief it was only 6 euros. Never did I ever think that I could purchase something at a Louis Vuitton store and only pay 6 euros. So I bought it and came out with my fancy Louis Vuitton bag and a fancy reciept. And for all people knew that I spent hundreds of euros on a wallet or something but no, just a 6 euro book. What a steal! I'm sure Jacob thought I was crazy but that doesn't much matter.
Anyways, we finally got to the Arc and it is huge. There is an enormous round-a-bout surrounding it so to get to the actual Arc we had to go underground and come back up in the middle of the round-a-bout. The Arc is actually a memorial for the unknown soldier which I was not aware of and they have a flame burning at all times in his honor. There were tickets to go up to the top but again with my heights and plus trying not to spend our entire bank accounts we decided not to go to the top.
Next we walked back to the Eiffel Tower so that we could see it during the day. Again there were a million men trying to sell the Eiffel Towers and Jacob and I decided that maybe we should both get one as a souvenier. We saw some in a couple gift shops that ran about 60 euros. The guys were offering them for 15 euros a piece but I new that we could get them cheaper since they were all so competitive. I told him that all we had was 19 euros and that we wanted two of the biggest Eiffel Towers they had. He said "no, no, ma'am I give them to you for 24 euros, good price good price." I repeated to him that we wanted two of them for 19 euros. He finally caved and we got two of the biggest ones for 19 euros all together. We then decided we were hungry and having planned out our lunch we packed 4 jelly sandwiches in my backpack and decided to eat them in the park by the Tower. It was a lot of fun and we even fed some of the remaining sandwiches to the birds.
We then took the metro over to Notre Dame which is where we found tons of gift shops. That must have been where they had been hiding all of this time. Notre Dame was gorgeous and we never went in because a service was just about to start. There were a lot of military men walking around the premises with huge guns which kind of creeped me out but I know they were just looking out for the safety of the tourists. We found a little crepe shop (thanks for the suggestion Joseph Kovach) and Jacob got a sugar crepe and a banana and nutella crepe, and I got a ham and cheese crepe. They were all amazing and I wish that crepes were more prominent in the United States. I think Jacob and I will be trying to make crepes quite often when we get back.
Jacob and I also made a sustainability video for an extra credit project for our Business Management class. We found these bike systems in London and Paris where you can rent a bike (the first half hour is free) and it's a pound and hour I believe up to 3 hours maybe and then I think they just charge a day rate after that. But when someone rents these bikes they can return them to any bike terminal, it doesn't have to be the one they got if from which is very convenient and very healthy for the environment. I'll probably post our video once we finish it.
After it all we took the metro back to our hotel, grabbed our things and took the train to the airport. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. and our flight was not due to leave until 7:15 a.m. So being twelve hours early we were not allowed to clear security until it was close enough to our flight time. In the Charles De Gaulle airport they let homeless people sleep there and cause a ruckis which was pretty scary. The one positive thing from the airport is that it was constantly being cleaned. But the homeless people kept getting in fights and arguements so cops had to step in and it was quite scary to say the least. By midnight everything had shut down (restaurants and stores) so we couldn't eat anything and we hadn't eaten since 3 in the afternoon when we had our crepes. Jacob and I both got about a half an hour of sleep in the airport and had nothing to eat. We assumed that since our flight boarded at 6:40 that we would be able to pass boarder control and security at around 5:00 a.m. No, they didn't open until 6:00 which is odd because airport rules is that you show up 2 hours before your estimated departure time. So that was frustrating to say the least. We finally cleared security and got to our gate, come to find out we had to take a shuttle again to the place where our plane would actually depart from. Jacob and I had 3 seats to ourselves again which was nice. Jacob woke up in the middle of our flight and said "Hey, we're in the clouds, I didn't even know we took off!" Obviously we were pretty tired and we both slept the entire flight.
Once we got back to Edinburgh we had to take the AirLink bus back into Edinburgh and the from Edinburgh we had to take another bus into Dalkeith, all around it was about an hour trip. We made it back just in time for class, still running on almost no sleep and no food. We had class until 5 p.m. last night and lets just say that we went to bed very early.
Overall I can say that I was kind of disappointed in Paris. It was so dirty, and I've been to New York City and London and nothing can compare to how dirty Paris was. Rats by the Eiffel Tower? No thanks. Graffiti on monuments and old buildings? No thanks. Impolite French? No thanks. Granted the sights that we saw were gorgeous and I'm glad that I can say I have been there and that I've seen the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the Louvre but that's about it. And even though Jacob and I only were there for one and a half days I felt like I had plenty of time. I'm glad that I didn't decide to spend my Spring Break there because if I was there for 10 days I would go crazy. I felt like the city of Paris is not kept up and not really cared about. Everything was graffitied, every garbage was overflowing, there were rats, and there were a million people pestering us. I felt like London was very clean and the people were friendly and there wasn't anyone pestering us and I felt safe there. In Paris Jacob and I didn't feel very safe and at one point Jacob said "If we don't get mugged then that will be a miracle." Again, I'm glad I've been there and I had fun with Jacob, but Paris is not on my list of places to return to someday. I've been there done that. :)
So we asked the receptionist if we could cancel our room for the night and then we would just leave for the airport that night and spend the entire night there. She said that it was not a problem and that she understood our situation. They ended up not charging us a fee for canceling only 6 hours in advance which was greatly appreciated on our part. And on top of that they let us keep our backpacks there for the day so we could continue to explore the city without another 20 pounds on our backs. So we left our backpacks at the hotel and went out into the city for the last time.
We first took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe because I really wanted to see it. So we got off the metro and to my excitement we ended up walking by the Louis Vuitton store (Again I wish Brittney Reissman would've been with me). I told Jacob that we had to go in, so I thought of course I would just buy a keychain or a scarf assuming that they would be ten times cheaper than any of the purses and shoes that they sell. I looked at both and both cost around 250 euros ( $351) . There was no way that I was spending $351 on a keychain when I could spend that much money at home and get an amazing Coach purse or something. So we went to the upper level and to my surprise they had a book section. I scoured these bookes to find the cheapest one and one that was in English and not French, and finally found "the one". It was called Place to Kiss in Paris and was in English as well. I turned it over and to my relief it was only 6 euros. Never did I ever think that I could purchase something at a Louis Vuitton store and only pay 6 euros. So I bought it and came out with my fancy Louis Vuitton bag and a fancy reciept. And for all people knew that I spent hundreds of euros on a wallet or something but no, just a 6 euro book. What a steal! I'm sure Jacob thought I was crazy but that doesn't much matter.
Anyways, we finally got to the Arc and it is huge. There is an enormous round-a-bout surrounding it so to get to the actual Arc we had to go underground and come back up in the middle of the round-a-bout. The Arc is actually a memorial for the unknown soldier which I was not aware of and they have a flame burning at all times in his honor. There were tickets to go up to the top but again with my heights and plus trying not to spend our entire bank accounts we decided not to go to the top.
Next we walked back to the Eiffel Tower so that we could see it during the day. Again there were a million men trying to sell the Eiffel Towers and Jacob and I decided that maybe we should both get one as a souvenier. We saw some in a couple gift shops that ran about 60 euros. The guys were offering them for 15 euros a piece but I new that we could get them cheaper since they were all so competitive. I told him that all we had was 19 euros and that we wanted two of the biggest Eiffel Towers they had. He said "no, no, ma'am I give them to you for 24 euros, good price good price." I repeated to him that we wanted two of them for 19 euros. He finally caved and we got two of the biggest ones for 19 euros all together. We then decided we were hungry and having planned out our lunch we packed 4 jelly sandwiches in my backpack and decided to eat them in the park by the Tower. It was a lot of fun and we even fed some of the remaining sandwiches to the birds.
We then took the metro over to Notre Dame which is where we found tons of gift shops. That must have been where they had been hiding all of this time. Notre Dame was gorgeous and we never went in because a service was just about to start. There were a lot of military men walking around the premises with huge guns which kind of creeped me out but I know they were just looking out for the safety of the tourists. We found a little crepe shop (thanks for the suggestion Joseph Kovach) and Jacob got a sugar crepe and a banana and nutella crepe, and I got a ham and cheese crepe. They were all amazing and I wish that crepes were more prominent in the United States. I think Jacob and I will be trying to make crepes quite often when we get back.
Jacob and I also made a sustainability video for an extra credit project for our Business Management class. We found these bike systems in London and Paris where you can rent a bike (the first half hour is free) and it's a pound and hour I believe up to 3 hours maybe and then I think they just charge a day rate after that. But when someone rents these bikes they can return them to any bike terminal, it doesn't have to be the one they got if from which is very convenient and very healthy for the environment. I'll probably post our video once we finish it.
After it all we took the metro back to our hotel, grabbed our things and took the train to the airport. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. and our flight was not due to leave until 7:15 a.m. So being twelve hours early we were not allowed to clear security until it was close enough to our flight time. In the Charles De Gaulle airport they let homeless people sleep there and cause a ruckis which was pretty scary. The one positive thing from the airport is that it was constantly being cleaned. But the homeless people kept getting in fights and arguements so cops had to step in and it was quite scary to say the least. By midnight everything had shut down (restaurants and stores) so we couldn't eat anything and we hadn't eaten since 3 in the afternoon when we had our crepes. Jacob and I both got about a half an hour of sleep in the airport and had nothing to eat. We assumed that since our flight boarded at 6:40 that we would be able to pass boarder control and security at around 5:00 a.m. No, they didn't open until 6:00 which is odd because airport rules is that you show up 2 hours before your estimated departure time. So that was frustrating to say the least. We finally cleared security and got to our gate, come to find out we had to take a shuttle again to the place where our plane would actually depart from. Jacob and I had 3 seats to ourselves again which was nice. Jacob woke up in the middle of our flight and said "Hey, we're in the clouds, I didn't even know we took off!" Obviously we were pretty tired and we both slept the entire flight.
Once we got back to Edinburgh we had to take the AirLink bus back into Edinburgh and the from Edinburgh we had to take another bus into Dalkeith, all around it was about an hour trip. We made it back just in time for class, still running on almost no sleep and no food. We had class until 5 p.m. last night and lets just say that we went to bed very early.
Overall I can say that I was kind of disappointed in Paris. It was so dirty, and I've been to New York City and London and nothing can compare to how dirty Paris was. Rats by the Eiffel Tower? No thanks. Graffiti on monuments and old buildings? No thanks. Impolite French? No thanks. Granted the sights that we saw were gorgeous and I'm glad that I can say I have been there and that I've seen the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the Louvre but that's about it. And even though Jacob and I only were there for one and a half days I felt like I had plenty of time. I'm glad that I didn't decide to spend my Spring Break there because if I was there for 10 days I would go crazy. I felt like the city of Paris is not kept up and not really cared about. Everything was graffitied, every garbage was overflowing, there were rats, and there were a million people pestering us. I felt like London was very clean and the people were friendly and there wasn't anyone pestering us and I felt safe there. In Paris Jacob and I didn't feel very safe and at one point Jacob said "If we don't get mugged then that will be a miracle." Again, I'm glad I've been there and I had fun with Jacob, but Paris is not on my list of places to return to someday. I've been there done that. :)
Cool car that Jacob was looking at
Me in front of the Louis Vuitton Store with my bag :)
The Arc De Triomphe
The Memorial
Some awesome cards
Jacob touching the Eiffel Tower
Jacob and I
Me with the Eiffel Tower
Eating our jelly sandwiches in the park
Feeding the rest to the birds
Smoochin' in Paris
A random ice skating rink by Notre Dame. They could just go to Wisconsin if they wanted to do that! It's free in Wisconsin!
Notre Dame
Jacob being the hunchback!
A lady feeding a million birds. The birds were so tame.
Jacob getting his sugar crepe at the FIRST crepe stand we went to
Jacob and his crepe again.
Love you all,
Hayley and Jacob
Monday, February 21, 2011
Paris Day 1
Bonjour,
Bright and early on February 19th Jacob and I left the palace at 5:45 a.m. to catch our bus into the city center of Edinburgh. That consisted of a half an hour bus ride and then we had to catch the Airlink bus to take us to the airport which was another half an hour bus ride. Jacob and I decided to fly AirFrance rather than Ryanair (discount airline) because we were too chicken to fly such a sketchy airline. Come to find out that AirFrance probably isn't much different compared to Ryanair except that we were allowed one piece of luggage which we didn't take advantage of anyways. We boarded our Cityjet by walking on the tarmac and up a flight of stairs. Actually walking outside and walking right onto the plane was a little odd. To our delight no one sat next to Jacob and I so we had 3 seats to ourselves. After our hour and a half flight we arrived in Paris, France at the Charles De Gaulle airport which is Paris' main one. We got off of our plane and had to take a shuttle to the main terminals which shows how huge the airport actually is.
Next it was time to figure out how to get to our hotel. Thank goodness I printed off the directions off the hotels website or it would have been a huge disaster. The directions suggested that we take the train into the city and that in itself was a challenge because Jacob and I never had taken the train before. We finally found out that we needed to take Train B into the city so it was time to get our tickets. Getting our tickets was a hassle because they wouldn't accept any of our American debit or credit cards so we had to go to an atm and get change. And not only did we need change for the machines but we needed exact change. They have something weird around here where everything needs to be exact change. Finally we got our tickets and boarded our train. There was a man on the train who had a mini boombox and sang some songs during our ride. Then he begged everyone for money which was annoying and we gave him some just so he would leave us alone. Once we got off the train our directions told us to take the metro so we got on our subway and we were on our way. Once we got to the stop where we had to switch subways we realized that the new subway we wanted to take wasn't in service (just our luck). Anyways we figured it out and finally made it to our hotel called Hotel Des Boulevards.
Thankfully the receptionist spoke enough English that we could understand eachother. We were in room number 17 and expected to have a bathroom in our room. Not the case. We had a queen sized bed, a sink, and a bidet which we were not going to use. There was a common bathroom on the floor below us which had a toilet and shower. The good thing was that only 3 rooms didn't have bathrooms so the common bathrooms were kept very clean. After dropping our bags off we decided that we were going to brave the 3.5 mile walk to the Eiffel Tower. On the way to the Eiffel Tower we found the "red light district" of Paris which I was not very fond of. I walked through it so fast especially because it was really dark in the alley.
We walked to the Louvre and saw it lit up at night. We didn't go in but it was pretty to look at. Then we walked to this bridge called the Pont Des Arts. This bridge is famously known for people who are in love to come and put a lock on the bridge and either chuck the key in the water or keeping the key so they can unlock it when they come back years down the road. I had read about this bridge prior to this trip so I made sure to purchase a lock so Jacob and I could add our own "love lock" to it. We carved our initials into the lock and the year. We chose a spot and locked it onto the chainlink bridge and chucked the key in the river. This bridge was probably one of the coolest things that we saw in Paris.
Next we walked to the famous Eiffel Tower. It was night time so the tower was all lit up and completely gorgeous. Although the closer we got to it the less appealing it became. There were rats running around the ground because of how much garbage there was. There were about 50 men trying to sell mini Eiffel Towers which got very annoying because every 2 seconds someone would beg us to buy one. The one thing that surprised us is that there were very little souvenier shops which was actually disappointing. We didn't go up the Eiffel Tower due to my fear of heights. I felt guilty because I am pretty sure Jacob wanted to and he didn't want to go alone. But we had a great time staring up at it.
We decided that it was time to go back to the hotel and find a place to eat dinner. We ended up taking the metro back because walking another 3.5 miles did not seem at all pleasant. We decided to eat dinner at none other than Pizza Hut. The main reason being the fact that we couldn't read any of the menus at other restaurants because they were all in French. Needless to say this pizza was the best pizza we have had in a long time. We are not sure if it's because we miss American food or if it was because the pizza in Scotland is thin crust, no seasoning in the sauce, and barely any cheese. It was kind of pricey for a chain restaurant but it was totally worth the money and we wanted to eat about three more of the pizzas!
That night we headed back to our hotel and prepared for another early morning....but we had no idea what was in store for us.
Love and Miss you,
Hayley and Jacob
Bright and early on February 19th Jacob and I left the palace at 5:45 a.m. to catch our bus into the city center of Edinburgh. That consisted of a half an hour bus ride and then we had to catch the Airlink bus to take us to the airport which was another half an hour bus ride. Jacob and I decided to fly AirFrance rather than Ryanair (discount airline) because we were too chicken to fly such a sketchy airline. Come to find out that AirFrance probably isn't much different compared to Ryanair except that we were allowed one piece of luggage which we didn't take advantage of anyways. We boarded our Cityjet by walking on the tarmac and up a flight of stairs. Actually walking outside and walking right onto the plane was a little odd. To our delight no one sat next to Jacob and I so we had 3 seats to ourselves. After our hour and a half flight we arrived in Paris, France at the Charles De Gaulle airport which is Paris' main one. We got off of our plane and had to take a shuttle to the main terminals which shows how huge the airport actually is.
Next it was time to figure out how to get to our hotel. Thank goodness I printed off the directions off the hotels website or it would have been a huge disaster. The directions suggested that we take the train into the city and that in itself was a challenge because Jacob and I never had taken the train before. We finally found out that we needed to take Train B into the city so it was time to get our tickets. Getting our tickets was a hassle because they wouldn't accept any of our American debit or credit cards so we had to go to an atm and get change. And not only did we need change for the machines but we needed exact change. They have something weird around here where everything needs to be exact change. Finally we got our tickets and boarded our train. There was a man on the train who had a mini boombox and sang some songs during our ride. Then he begged everyone for money which was annoying and we gave him some just so he would leave us alone. Once we got off the train our directions told us to take the metro so we got on our subway and we were on our way. Once we got to the stop where we had to switch subways we realized that the new subway we wanted to take wasn't in service (just our luck). Anyways we figured it out and finally made it to our hotel called Hotel Des Boulevards.
Thankfully the receptionist spoke enough English that we could understand eachother. We were in room number 17 and expected to have a bathroom in our room. Not the case. We had a queen sized bed, a sink, and a bidet which we were not going to use. There was a common bathroom on the floor below us which had a toilet and shower. The good thing was that only 3 rooms didn't have bathrooms so the common bathrooms were kept very clean. After dropping our bags off we decided that we were going to brave the 3.5 mile walk to the Eiffel Tower. On the way to the Eiffel Tower we found the "red light district" of Paris which I was not very fond of. I walked through it so fast especially because it was really dark in the alley.
We walked to the Louvre and saw it lit up at night. We didn't go in but it was pretty to look at. Then we walked to this bridge called the Pont Des Arts. This bridge is famously known for people who are in love to come and put a lock on the bridge and either chuck the key in the water or keeping the key so they can unlock it when they come back years down the road. I had read about this bridge prior to this trip so I made sure to purchase a lock so Jacob and I could add our own "love lock" to it. We carved our initials into the lock and the year. We chose a spot and locked it onto the chainlink bridge and chucked the key in the river. This bridge was probably one of the coolest things that we saw in Paris.
Next we walked to the famous Eiffel Tower. It was night time so the tower was all lit up and completely gorgeous. Although the closer we got to it the less appealing it became. There were rats running around the ground because of how much garbage there was. There were about 50 men trying to sell mini Eiffel Towers which got very annoying because every 2 seconds someone would beg us to buy one. The one thing that surprised us is that there were very little souvenier shops which was actually disappointing. We didn't go up the Eiffel Tower due to my fear of heights. I felt guilty because I am pretty sure Jacob wanted to and he didn't want to go alone. But we had a great time staring up at it.
We decided that it was time to go back to the hotel and find a place to eat dinner. We ended up taking the metro back because walking another 3.5 miles did not seem at all pleasant. We decided to eat dinner at none other than Pizza Hut. The main reason being the fact that we couldn't read any of the menus at other restaurants because they were all in French. Needless to say this pizza was the best pizza we have had in a long time. We are not sure if it's because we miss American food or if it was because the pizza in Scotland is thin crust, no seasoning in the sauce, and barely any cheese. It was kind of pricey for a chain restaurant but it was totally worth the money and we wanted to eat about three more of the pizzas!
That night we headed back to our hotel and prepared for another early morning....but we had no idea what was in store for us.
Love and Miss you,
Hayley and Jacob
All of the locks on the bridge
Jacob putting our lock on the bridge
Me throwing the key into the river
A huge ferris wheel
The Eiffel Tower
The disgusting rats at the Eiffel Tower
Jaocb and I at the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower sparkles every once and a while
Jacob
Myself
Really bad picture of the Louvre
Friday, February 18, 2011
London Day 3 and 4
Hey,
London numero tres! We got up bright and early to go for a ride on the London Eye. For those of you who are not aware of what the London Eye is, it's a huge ferris wheel consisting of many pods that hold around 12 people and it gives amazing views of London. I was very scared to go on this because of my fear of heights (thanks mom), but to my surprise I wasn't bothered one bit. The pods were a lot bigger than expected and we couldn't even feel the ferris wheel go around and we even were there on a windy rainy day. The London Eye gave us some great photo opportunities and I definitely recommend it to anyone going to London. When we got off the London eye we went to the gift shop and I wanted to buy a lot of things for my mom. They had numerous things that had "eyes" on them and since my mom is an optician she is constantly looking for little trinkets that have eyes on them. Since they are going to London themselves I decided against purchasing these things so hopefully she buys them for herself when she goes.
After the London Eye we decided to follow our map that said there was something called the Meijer Chocolate Factory so we wanted to find some delectible chocolate since it's so much better than in the states. We walked probably 2 miles including us getting lost and finally we found it, to our disappointment. When we arrived we realized that this chocolate factory was just a restaurant. Boy was Jacob mad, all he wanted was some chocolate. Hahaha.
We found a place to eat lunch which was called Pizza Express, which must be a chain restaurant because they are all over the UK. They are actually pretty pricey and fancy and not really "express" at all. I would assume the express would refer to fast food but it's a fancy sit down restaurant. We each got our own pizza both of which were around 6 pounds. It was delicious but the pizza in the UK is not the same as pizza in the US. The pizza here is super thin even if you order their "thick" crust and is almost tasteless. I don't think that they season their sauce but it'll do.
After that we walked all the way back to our hostel which was probably a good 3 mile walk. We walked because we were running super low on our tube passes. On our walk we walked by the Tower Bridge and Jacob spotted something out of the corner of his eye that I have never seen before....an Evrard bus. Yes, a bus that said Evrard on it. Never in my life have I ever seen something with my last name on it so I was more than thrilled!
When we arrived back to our hostel we decided to take a short walk to the British History Museum which had free admission. It was huge and we only walked the 3rd floor before getting too tired to walk the whole thing. The 3rd floor consisted of mummies and decaying bodies and was one of the coolest museums I have ever been too. I probably could have spent all day there.
For dinner that night we went to a cute little cafe called The Pancake House. I ordered an apple/cinnamon crepe and Jacob ordered an apple/cinnamon waffle both which were the same price. Jacob also ordered a hot chocolate and his bill came to around 13 pounds. Mine only came to 6. Kind of odd considering the hot chocolate only should've been about 2 pounds. Jacob didn't want to complain so we just sat down and waited for our food. We were the only people in the place so when the waiter brought us some pasty looking thing we figured that that is what we must have been charged extra for. We both tried it and thought it was disgusting and we still to this day don't know what that was. We eventually got our waffle and crepe both of which were amazing, yet the odd thing is that it was called the Pancake House and they didn't have one pancake on their menu. Hmmm.
That night we also stopped by a Gelato shop and oh man is it amazing. I got banana flavored which tasted so much like an actual banana that Jacob and I probably had a discussion about it for 20 minutes. Jacob got a flavor called Stracciatella which is like white chocolate with milk chocolate chips. Pretty good in my opinion and we can't wait to go to Italy for spring break to have real gelato!
The next day it was time to leave. We went to Tesco (similar to Aldi's) and both got a 2 dollar meal deal which consisted of a sandwich, bag of chips, and a water. The meal was pretty good and we'll probably be eating a lot of those. We were waiting for the bus to take us back to Scotland and the bus was 1 1/2 late. I'm kind of mad because in my opinion I should get some sort of refund....my reasoning being that if someone shows up an 1 1/2 late for work, they wouldn't be getting paid for the 1 1/2. So why did we pay him for being late? I don't know, again that's just my organization and punctuality obsession kicking in. The ride home was ridiculously long and we got home 3 hours later than we were supposed to. We got home at 1 am in the morning and had class the next morning so that was not favorable.
Overall we loved London and I would love to live there someday. Jacob loved it to but he would never live in a huge city like that. Tomorrow we leave for Paris, France and we get back early Monday morning so that we don't miss class.
Just a side note I wanted to wish Shawn Peebles a happy birthday (yesterday), my cousin Brock Pleshek a happy birthday today, my Uncle Steve happy birthday tomorrow, my Auntie Karen happy birthday on the 21st, and my cousin Natalie happy birthday on the 24th! :)
Love and miss everyone,
Hayley and Jacob
London numero tres! We got up bright and early to go for a ride on the London Eye. For those of you who are not aware of what the London Eye is, it's a huge ferris wheel consisting of many pods that hold around 12 people and it gives amazing views of London. I was very scared to go on this because of my fear of heights (thanks mom), but to my surprise I wasn't bothered one bit. The pods were a lot bigger than expected and we couldn't even feel the ferris wheel go around and we even were there on a windy rainy day. The London Eye gave us some great photo opportunities and I definitely recommend it to anyone going to London. When we got off the London eye we went to the gift shop and I wanted to buy a lot of things for my mom. They had numerous things that had "eyes" on them and since my mom is an optician she is constantly looking for little trinkets that have eyes on them. Since they are going to London themselves I decided against purchasing these things so hopefully she buys them for herself when she goes.
After the London Eye we decided to follow our map that said there was something called the Meijer Chocolate Factory so we wanted to find some delectible chocolate since it's so much better than in the states. We walked probably 2 miles including us getting lost and finally we found it, to our disappointment. When we arrived we realized that this chocolate factory was just a restaurant. Boy was Jacob mad, all he wanted was some chocolate. Hahaha.
We found a place to eat lunch which was called Pizza Express, which must be a chain restaurant because they are all over the UK. They are actually pretty pricey and fancy and not really "express" at all. I would assume the express would refer to fast food but it's a fancy sit down restaurant. We each got our own pizza both of which were around 6 pounds. It was delicious but the pizza in the UK is not the same as pizza in the US. The pizza here is super thin even if you order their "thick" crust and is almost tasteless. I don't think that they season their sauce but it'll do.
After that we walked all the way back to our hostel which was probably a good 3 mile walk. We walked because we were running super low on our tube passes. On our walk we walked by the Tower Bridge and Jacob spotted something out of the corner of his eye that I have never seen before....an Evrard bus. Yes, a bus that said Evrard on it. Never in my life have I ever seen something with my last name on it so I was more than thrilled!
When we arrived back to our hostel we decided to take a short walk to the British History Museum which had free admission. It was huge and we only walked the 3rd floor before getting too tired to walk the whole thing. The 3rd floor consisted of mummies and decaying bodies and was one of the coolest museums I have ever been too. I probably could have spent all day there.
For dinner that night we went to a cute little cafe called The Pancake House. I ordered an apple/cinnamon crepe and Jacob ordered an apple/cinnamon waffle both which were the same price. Jacob also ordered a hot chocolate and his bill came to around 13 pounds. Mine only came to 6. Kind of odd considering the hot chocolate only should've been about 2 pounds. Jacob didn't want to complain so we just sat down and waited for our food. We were the only people in the place so when the waiter brought us some pasty looking thing we figured that that is what we must have been charged extra for. We both tried it and thought it was disgusting and we still to this day don't know what that was. We eventually got our waffle and crepe both of which were amazing, yet the odd thing is that it was called the Pancake House and they didn't have one pancake on their menu. Hmmm.
That night we also stopped by a Gelato shop and oh man is it amazing. I got banana flavored which tasted so much like an actual banana that Jacob and I probably had a discussion about it for 20 minutes. Jacob got a flavor called Stracciatella which is like white chocolate with milk chocolate chips. Pretty good in my opinion and we can't wait to go to Italy for spring break to have real gelato!
The next day it was time to leave. We went to Tesco (similar to Aldi's) and both got a 2 dollar meal deal which consisted of a sandwich, bag of chips, and a water. The meal was pretty good and we'll probably be eating a lot of those. We were waiting for the bus to take us back to Scotland and the bus was 1 1/2 late. I'm kind of mad because in my opinion I should get some sort of refund....my reasoning being that if someone shows up an 1 1/2 late for work, they wouldn't be getting paid for the 1 1/2. So why did we pay him for being late? I don't know, again that's just my organization and punctuality obsession kicking in. The ride home was ridiculously long and we got home 3 hours later than we were supposed to. We got home at 1 am in the morning and had class the next morning so that was not favorable.
Overall we loved London and I would love to live there someday. Jacob loved it to but he would never live in a huge city like that. Tomorrow we leave for Paris, France and we get back early Monday morning so that we don't miss class.
Just a side note I wanted to wish Shawn Peebles a happy birthday (yesterday), my cousin Brock Pleshek a happy birthday today, my Uncle Steve happy birthday tomorrow, my Auntie Karen happy birthday on the 21st, and my cousin Natalie happy birthday on the 24th! :)
Love and miss everyone,
Hayley and Jacob
Jacob and I on the London Eye
View from the London Eye
The group of us on the Eye. :)
The London Eye again
Jacob and Big Ben
Me and Big Ben
Tower Bridge
Real Mummies at the museum
The Evrard bus
Love this picture since the Underground since and Big Ben are both in it
British History Museum
Down in the Underground waiting for the tube
Jacob and I with the London Eye (don't know why this isn't flipped)
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