Spring Break Passport

It has been one crazy week where I was out all day and had spotty internet access at night. But otherwise, my spring break was amazing. My parents came to hang out with me during the break which was really nice. They came to Florence a couple days before my program was finished, and then we went first to Nice, France by train. The train ride there was close to seven hours long in total, but it was worth it. The flight there would have cost more because of all my baggage. And besides, trains are kind of fun.

Nice was lovely, but the real stars were the nearby towns we visited. It's all along the French Riviera, and we visited Monaco (and, by extension, Monte Carlo) and Cannes. Cannes was definitely my favorite. Besides the awesome seafood we had there, the water and the beach was beautiful and the sand was actually sand instead of rocks. It also helped that the one clear day we had in France was when we were in Cannes. There weren't many people either, it being an off-season time, and so it was the perfect time to travel. I can't believe how crowded it would get during the summer!

Nice from a clifftop view

One of the many boats in Cannes

Me and the Cannes beach

 After spending three days in Nice, we took a direct train to Paris. Paris was also beautiful. I love big cities and Paris was definitely it. We hit most of the big tourist attractions such as the Arch of Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Shakespeare & co., the baby Statue of Liberty, and Cleopatra's Needle which is a really pretty thing, though perhaps not as big of an attraction as the others. There were a lot of people, as expected, but I really enjoyed the bustling city life. The apartment that we rented was outside of the city center near the hostel St. Christopher's and right next to the canal, and that was a really nice location. Also, St. Christopher's seems like a really nice hostel. If I ever go back to Paris on my own, I'd plan on staying there and taking the metro around.

A blurry picture of the Arch

Cleopatra's Needle

The sparkling Eiffel at night

Baby Statue of Liberty

The coolest bookstore ever!

Notre Dame (sans bells)

Along with Paris, we also went out to Versailles to see the palace. It was overwhelming, but the history of the place amazed me. I love learning about all that history and the grounds of the palace was pretty much unable to walked through in one day. Or until someone collapsed. It's HUGE. There was also an absolutely amazing bakery there too called (don't laugh) Bigot Bakery. They had the best pastries I've ever had anywhere. No wonder all the pastry chefs train in France...at least so I've heard.

The gates to the Palace of Versaille

One of the streets in Versaille

Four days in Paris was wonderful and I felt that I saw all that I really wanted to in that time. On Saturday we made our way to London via train and so far I have really come to love this city. The underground is the best and easiest public transportation I've ever taken. I really want to stay here longer and learn all about London and Londoners, but of course this is just the beginning. There is so much to see in the city and there is so much to do I can't wait! The first night, cooking didn't seem to be too much of a problem. We've all seemed to coordinate our own cooking schedules well enough and I'm glad. The kitchen is a bit small, but workable if only a few people are in there at a time.

All in all, my spring break was pretty awesome and I can't wait to see what London has for me. There are more Protestant churches here and I'm definitely going to be looking into that for this coming Easter Sunday. Is it really coming to Easter already? My list for things to do in London is growing everyday and let's see if I can get them all done! My goal is to check each and every one off. Here's my list so far (though I'm sure it's far from finished):

-Charles Dickens Museum
-British Museum
-British Library
-Pollock's Toy Museum
-Kensington Gardens
-National Gallery
-Museum of London
-Harry Potter WB Studio Tour
-Westminster Abbey
-Natural History Museum
-Walk on Tower Bridge (if possible)
-Shakespeare's Globe
-Camden Market
-Brick Lane Beigel Bake
-Tower of London
-Victoria & Albert Museum
-Ride in the London Eye
-Visit Liverpool and Surrey

I'm sure I'll hit most of these museums with classes, but I'll let you all know when I start ticking these things off my list! There are so many things to do in seven weeks. Cheers!