Rani Divine's Blog, page 39

Top Five: Europe Travel Tips

Today, I'd like to share with you a little more about planning your trip, and some of the things you might like to know when you get there. 
Travel Tips!
Remember, we only traveled in Iceland, Ireland, England, and France. But I still feel like I have some good tips I can give you for these places—and they’re all things you should really know before you leave.
TaxisWe took taxis in every country but Ireland, let’s just preface by saying that. Taxis are a very convenient way to move around, just because they’re literally everywhere. Trouble is, even Google doesn’t know how much it’s going to cost you to take a ride in a taxi, and there’s usually a cheaper way to move around (especially from the airport/train station to wherever you're staying). 
If you’re in Iceland, I recommend avoiding taxis as much as possible. They’re ridiculously expensive. Although the drivers are very nice and friendly, the price isn’t always worth it. In London, however, the taxis are very nice. We ended up taking two while we were there, both of which were very nice, drivers were friendly, and the prices weren’t bad (it cost about ten pounds to get from Paddington Station to St Pancras International Train Station, if that gives you an idea). In Paris, however, there’s something you need to know. If you’re taking a taxi to or from a train station or airport, it’s a set fee. And it’s a bit pricy, depending on where you’re going. It’s approximately fifty euros, to or from a train station or airport, to anywhere in the city. So if you’re not staying far from the station, it might be better to find an alternate route or walk the distance.  
The undergroundObviously, we only used this system in London and Paris, as Ireland and Iceland don’t have them. 
In London, the system is incredibly simple. What we did was purchase an Oyster Travel Card before we left, so we’d be able to use public transport in London without too much confusion. All you have to do is scan it when you go in and scan it when you go out. Simple. If you run out of money on the card, you can fill it at any station or register it online to add more money. Plus, if you’re staying near a larger underground station, you’ll be better able to move around the city at your leisure. We found their system very easy to understand, especially if you stick to the circle line as much as possible. It literally just goes around in a circle, and hits a lot of the fun tourist stops along the way. (Note: you'll have to have one Oyster Card per person)
Paris, however, was a challenge for us. The trains aren’t as nice, they don’t have any system as sophisticated as that in London, and everything is in French, so if you don’t know the language you might have some trouble. It took us a couple days to get used to their system, but it was workable and useful, as things are far more spread out in Paris than they are in London. It's important to note that if you can't figure out what you're doing, most people are nice enough to help you out, and most of the people working in the underground stations do speak some English.
Pickpocket preventionEspecially in Paris, there are signs all over the place (in tourist areas especially) warning about pickpocketers. It’s something that you’ll definitely want to be aware of, especially if you’re not generally all that cautious with your personal belongings. Mum and I ended up purchasing purses from Travelon before we left, where all the zippers lock closed to deter pickpocketing and the straps are slash proof. It’s also a good idea, guys, not to keep your wallet in your back pocket. My father highly recommends keeping it in your sock, where no one can get a hold of it without your knowing. Ladies, Travelon has a lot of great purse options. You’ll also want to remember to keep a hold on your purse and/or hang it across your body so no one can nab it from you. We didn’t have any problems with it whatsoever, and the bags are very nice, and don’t look shabby at all.
Difference between waiters in the US and abroadMight not seem like a big deal, but this is definitely something you should know before going to Europe. Wait-staff are not the same as they are in the States. Here, you have one waiter who sees to your table, whom you generally tip when you pay your bill. There, you have a whole staff of people helping you, and the tip is included in the bill. If you’re paying via credit card, they won’t take your card from the table. Instead, they’ll bring a device to your table so you pay tableside and your card never leaves your sight. Very nice! But getting a hold of that bill… that’s the interesting part. Once you have your food and are happily eating, we noticed that the staff tend to ignore you. When you do get a hold of someone and ask for your bill, don’t be surprised if they forget. You may have to ask a few times before you get it. But everyone is very polite, and they simply want you to stay and hang out… and maybe order a few more things that they can add to the bill. If you’re in a hurry, it might not be a bad idea to let the wait-staff know when you get there, to help you get out the door a little quicker.
Arranged tour vs do it yourselfA lot of people were surprised to hear that Mum and I designed our own trip. We didn’t purchase a travel package that would take us all of the places we needed to go and tell us where to stay and what to do. I don’t see anything inherently wrong with those trips, but depending on your travel style, it might not be what you want to do. There are pros and cons both ways.
Arranged trips can be much easier, because you don’t have as much to think about when planning. A lot of the trips you get on Groupon and other such sites include a hotel stay, which means you won’t have to do so much research to figure out where to stay, and some even include tickets to some of the attractions wherever you’re going. So, it can be a really nice way to see the world. 
For us, however, arranging our own trip was the way to go. If you like to have more flexibility in what you’re doing, when you’ll be going, and where you’ll be staying, I highly recommend putting the trip together yourself. It takes time to do it (we were planning this trip for a few years, but you probably don’t need more than eight months to do it, tops). It can also be slightly more expensive, but you get to decide how long you'll be in each location instead of a travel agency deciding for you. For me and Mum, that meant we could spend almost a week in London and less time in the other cities where we didn't have as much we wanted to do. This way, we got to decide what dates we would be gone, we were in control of how long we stayed in each location, and we got to decide exactly where we were staying in relation to other things in each city. We wanted to see what it was like to live in each city, not just stay there. That meant avoiding hotels as much as possible, and using Airbnb. We also planned out only about a third of the things we really wanted to do, and got tickets ahead of time. Everything we did outside that, was what we’d decided on doing that day. No tours, no tour guides, no one to dictate what we were going to do on any given day. And it was a blast. 
I hope these tips help you in planning and preparing for your own Europe trip!
Next time, things get silly. Stay tuned. 
Also, pics from London coming as soon as I have time to sort through them! I have several... thousand.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Top Five: Before You Go

Taking a trip to Europe isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it, a lot of things that you need to lean and do before you leave, and here I’ve put together some of what I think are the most important of those. Aside from, you know, getting plane/train tickets and figuring out where you’ll be staying. 
Top Five Things to Do Before You Go
Research every city.This is extremely important to do before you book the place you’ll be staying. Figure out what part of the city you want to be in, what area has more of the things you want to see, and if the place you’re staying is close to public transport if you’re not planning on taking taxis everywhere you go. For example, in London we ended up staying near Paddington Station. It’s close to Kensington Gardens and a few other things, but most of what we wanted to see was a ways away, closer to the Thames. But since we were near Paddington, we could easily use public transportation (Paddington is a hub for trains, underground, and buses) to get where we wanted to go. Find out if you’ll be staying in an area locals say is safe or fun, and make sure you’ll be in a place where you won’t feel uncomfortable leaving your stuff in your room.
Figure out how to get from the airport to where you’re staying.As opposed to what I’ve seen in the majority of large cities I've been to in the States, airports in big cities in Europe are a fair ways outside the city. In Iceland, this meant we had a forty minute bus ride into Reykjavik. In Dublin, it meant a half hour bus ride into the city. And in London, it meant catching the Heathrow Connect to Paddington Station (another half hour journey). Honestly, this wasn’t something I’d thought of doing before we left, but I’m glad Mum did! It saved a lot of stress on landing, to already know how to get into the city and to the place where we were staying. In a lot of cities, you won’t want to take a taxi (they're far more expensive than alternate public transport). So it’s important to figure out an alternate route, even if it means a twenty minute walk to your hotel.
Make a list of things you want to do, and get tickets online.Obviously, it’s important to make a list of all the things you want to do wherever you’ll be going, and to rank things by how much you want to do them. There’s no point doing something low on the list if it means you’ll have to miss out on something you really want to do. But it’s also a huge time saver (and money saver) to get some of your tickets ahead of time. I don’t recommend doing it with everything, because then your schedule will be so rigid that you’ll have no wiggle room if you change your mind, but it’s nice to get about half of your tickets ahead of time. For example, when we were in London we’d planned out our first three days and gotten tickets for the Tower of London, a Thames cruise, and tickets to see Phantom of the Opera, but our second three days we left open to do whatever we wanted, and had a list of possible things we could do.
Buy guidebooks.I really didn’t want to be an obvious tourist. That meant I didn’t want to walk around cities with a guidebook in my hands. But I did want to know what I was doing when I got there, which was why the books came in handy. We purchased ours a few months before we left, and spent a lot of time perusing them and finding things we wanted to do, places that sounded good to eat, and travel ideas in general throughout the city. It was also helpful to familiarize ourselves with maps of every city, so we had a general idea of where everything was within the city. This also made it easier when we got there, because we already had a basic knowledge of where we were going while we walked around. Google Maps is great, but sometimes it gets confused when you’re standing between tall buildings.
Work out. A lot. Especially if you plan on walking for the most part while you’re there.This was something we’d started doing way back last year. Mum and I wanted to get into better shape in general, but then we’d talked about wanting to walk as much as we could around Europe. And then we realized that if we couldn’t even walk a couple miles a day at home we would never make it in Europe. So we started working out, and we’re both very glad we did. Strength training made it easier to haul our luggage to and from airports and places where we were staying, and cardio made it possible for us to walk approximately ten miles every day, which allowed us to see more of the sights and spend less time on a bus or in an underground station. Without those workouts, we wouldn’t have gotten through half of the fun things we did while we were gone.
And those are my Top Five. I’m glad we did all of them, and I highly recommend doing each and every one. Obviously. When you get there, you’ll want to have an idea of what you’re going to do and not be thrown into the deep end, trust me. So do as much as you can before you go, and make sure you’re ready for a trip packed with fun—and as little stress as possible. 
[love]
{Rani D.}

Welcome to Dublin

Hello all! Last time I showed you some pictures, they were all from the beautiful country of Iceland. Now, it's time to check out some of the very many pictures I took in Dublin, Ireland! More will be up on Facebook in a few days, so keep your eyes peeled if you haven't had your fill. 
These first several images are from various walks we took around the city, showcasing things from Dublin Castle to the stunning bridges that cross the Liffey.








 Christchurch cathedral is one of the oldest in Europe, and was a lot of fun to go see. They even let you take pictures inside!





From there, we went on to Trinity College. We didn't spend a great deal of time here, but we had fun snapping a few photos before continuing on our adventures. Next time, I'll spend a bit more time getting to know this lovely college.




This arch is the entryway to St. Stephen's Green, one of the prettiest places we visited in Dublin. We had it on our list of possible things to do, which was likely to get cut out, but then stopped here for a few minutes during the 1916 tour we went on — and we just had to go back. So beautiful!





Saint Patrick's Cathedral. We did go inside, but we went for the Evensong, where no picture-taking is allowed. Still, the outside is just as pretty as the inside. 



Dublin was a great way to move into Europe. It's a smaller town where people are friendly and will literally stop you on the side of the road just to talk — great fun! If you're going to Europe and you're not sure where to start, Dublin is a great option.

Next up: London!!

[love]

{Rani D.}

p.s. Looks like getting through all my pictures might take a little longer than I thought, so we'll see how long it takes for me to finish posting everything from Europe. 

Top Five: Things To Do

It’s time for another Top Five!
This time, I want to relive a little bit of the things we did while we were gone, so…
My Top Five Things to Do in Keflavik, Dublin, London, and Paris(in no particular order, because I couldn’t make myself decide)
Borough Market
Where: London, England
Why: Because it’s awesome! They have vendors with pretty much everything you could possibly want by way of food. Buy a cup of freshly squeezed juice blends and a plate of food from a street vendor while you walk around picking out snacks for the rest of your week and sampling foods so delicious you’ll be glad you brought your wallet. Seriously though, I can still see myself walking through the streets at Borough Market, sampling cheeses and teas, picking out fruits and veggies, finding delicious pastries and breads, and coming home with armfuls of yummy eats. If you’re a foodie, or if you just like free samples, you definitely need to check this place out.
How to get there: We walked from Tower Bridge, but if you don’t want to walk that far, get yourself to London Bridge Underground Station, which is just across the street.

Guinness Storehouse Gravity Bar
Where: Dublin, Ireland
Why: Because it’s a bar where you can literally see everything in Dublin. They’ve pointed out specific features for you to check out, written on the beautifully pristine windows so you can check them out… as long as you can get to them. From what I hear, it’s nearly always busy in the gravity bar—it was when we were there. But that doesn’t make it less worth checking out. The beers are amazing, the views are incredible, and you’re in Dublin, so the people are really nice too. Pour your own pint downstairs and bring it up with you for a fun time trying to move through the crowds.
How to get there: We walked, as per usual. But there’s a bus stop down the road, and the Hop On-Hop Off buses stop here as well.

Bateaux Lunch Cruise on the Thames
Where: London, England
Why: Because it’s delicious and so very much fun. They take you a ways up the river and point out a lot of the sights and history along the way. It’s a great way to start a trip in London, because this way you’ll at least get to see most of the landmarks from a distance. Let’s face it, most of them are close enough to the river that you’ve gotten fairly close enough to see if you're not in London for a great deal of time. It helps that the food is amazing and a great bang for your buck. You don’t get to decide what you’re eating, so if you’re incredibly picky this might not be the thing for you, but if you’re not, go for it! The food is an excellent quality and they give you just enough to fill you up without being so stuffed that you won’t be able to walk around the city afterward.
How to get there: Embankment Underground Station. It’s almost straight out the doors, incredibly easy to find.

Galleries Lafayette
Where: Paris, France
Why: Because it’s the best shopping we found in all of the cities in which we stopped. The mall is seven stories tall, with stuff for everyone. From a Disney section to Angelina’s Cafe, from winter coats to fabulous shoes, this store has it all. And if you somehow happen to get bored, Printemps is just down the street, for even more shopping. I highly recommend checking out the cafes in both malls, as everything we had in Paris was simply scrumptious. Take a day or two and mosey through the Galleries Lafayette, explore sections you wouldn’t normally look through, and don’t be afraid to treat yourself. That’s what Paris is for, after all.  
How to get there: Chaussee d’Antin – La Fayette Metro Station.

Walk along the coast of Keflavik
Where: Keflavik, Iceland
Why: Because it’s beautiful. During certain times of the year you’ll be likely to see both whales and puffins, along with various other types of birds. This one is for all you outdoorsy people out there, for sure. Iceland has a lot for people like you to do, and this is one of them—especially if you're short on time but still want to see some of the views. The city itself is sleepy and doesn’t have much going on, but the walk is beautiful. The water is some of the bluest I’d ever seen, and the volcanic mountains along the opposite bank make for stunning views. If you get hungry, there’s a great touristy eatery right along the coast as well, where Mum and I had a seafood feast.
How to get there: Go to Keflavik. Walk to the coast. Keep walking (toward the Giantess Cave, if you want to go the exact route we did).

See, and now I miss Europe all over again.
Stay tuned for more pictures coming your way tomorrow afternoon, right here on Too Many Books to Count!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Welcome to Iceland

The time has finally come for some pictures! As promised, here's the first batch — my favorite shots from both Reykjavik and Keflavik, Iceland.

Welcome to Reykjavik



 These were some of the first three pictures that I took upon our arrival, and they're also some of my favorites. At this point, we'd just checked into the place we were staying, and were on a hunt to find Hallgrimskirkja (below).




Inside, there's a beautiful pipe organ (whose music was sadly drowned out by the fact that they were currently doing repairs on the exterior, but whose physical beauty was in no way dampened).



Pay a small fee, and from here you get to go all the way to the top of the tower, and see all around the little town of Reykjavik.




It's a quaint little town, even by the look of it. It's very much a seaside village, from the colored roofs to the sweet people within. Everyone we met in Reykjavik was kind and helpful, and honestly, I think they enjoyed hearing how badly we attempted to pronounce anything in their language.



From here, we move on to an even smaller town, one that unfortunately had no tower from which I could photograph it: Keflavik.


If possible, I think Keflavik is actually cuter than Reykjavik. I mean, really. Look at that cute red house! The city is very tiny though, so if you're looking for tourist things to do, don't try it. But if you're looking for a nice walk along the coast, Keflavik has it. 









I'll save you the trouble of asking by saying that we were cold. Not freezing, mind you, but cold. It was the wind. We walked along the coast for the better part of a couple hours, ending up on these rocks where we could look down at the bluest blue water below. Opportune time for a selfie!




Our adventures in Iceland ended there, as the next morning (dark and early) we made our way to Dublin.

I'll also be posting pictures on my Facebook page, more extensively so you can really see some of the things we got to do, but all of you are the first to see the pictures that go along with my former blogs.

Again, thank you so much for following us through Europe! We had a blast, and we really, honestly, can't wait to go back. We might already be planning the next trip.

[love]

{Rani D.}

Top Five: Places to See

Hello from New Mexico! 
It still feels so strange to be home. We spent so much time planning and preparing for our Europe trip that it’s weird for it to be over. It still feels like we’re building up to something, like there’s another adventure right around the corner, and I sincerely hope that there is. But I still don’t want to let go of our trip, our first adventure outside the States.
To that end, because I just can’t let go, I have five Top Fives to share with you, about planning and preparing for a trip like this, what you should do in the places I visited, and what I still want to go back and do. I hope some of you will find this information useful and fun, and I hope you don’t blame me for not wanting to give up on the trip of the year.
Don’t worry—pictures are still coming, and I will post them as soon as I possibly can, both here and on my Facebook. And maybe some on Instagram. You never know. ;-)
Top Five Places You Have to See in Reykjavik, Dublin, London, and Paris: (in no particular order, because I just couldn’t decide)
Tower of London


London, England
The Tower of London is one of those places that when you see it, you’ll wonder how it was ever constructed in its time. The White Tower’s stone construction is beautiful, the inside filled with reclaimed ship wood and spiral staircases that would make anyone dizzy. People usually flock here to see the Crown Jewels, which are amazingly beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But the thing that I’d say you have to see is the Tower itself. It holds so much mystery and history, it’s a palace and a prison, and it’s beautiful. Walking through those halls, touching things that Kings and Queens of old once touched, literally takes your breath away. To hear stories of the things that happened within those walls, to sit and think of the history that was shaped within that Tower, I wonder how we didn’t spend more time there.
How to get there: Tower Hill Underground Station Nearby: Tower Bridge, Borough Market, St Paul’s Cathedral (if you don’t mind a short walk)

Westminster Abbey London, England
Westminster was one of those places that I could’ve spent days inside. They have an audio guide that leads you around the whole building, but of course it can’t cover everything. There’s monuments and mausoleums inside, tombs of poets and children, Kings, Queens, Princes, royalty, admiralty, and even some terrors you wouldn’t think would be there. Everywhere you look, there’s something new and wondrous to be seen. The detail that people managed to carve into wood and stone, in an era without modern tools, is simply breathtaking. If you have time, sit and listen to the organs play. Go to Evensong and hear the choir. We didn’t have the opportunity to do so, but even standing in the quire I could imagine how beautiful it would be. All of that on top of the fact that you get to stand only a few feet from where the Queen was crowned, and even lay eyes upon the coronation chair, and you have one of the coolest and most awe-inspiring places in all of London.
How to get there: Westminster Underground Station (obviously) Nearby: Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Buckingham Palace (if you don’t mind the walk)

Temple Bar Area Dublin, Ireland
Temple Bar itself is one of the most iconic places in all of Dublin. The moment you clap eyes on it, you know where you are. Dublin has a big drinking scene, if you didn’t already know, but the Temple Bar area is a lot more than that. There are shops and eateries on every street, people playing music that echoes out from every bar into the street beyond. If you go when it’s not raining, it’s a lot more enjoyable. I’m not a huge drinker, but it was a lot of fun to try out some of the other beers in the Guinness family in the city where it all started. Try a boxty if you can find one, get some Guinness stew, and just sit and watch the people. They’re a fascinating bunch, in Dublin, and I honestly couldn’t get enough. Not to mention the fact that the food is fabulous.
How to get there: Keep walking. You’ll find it. Nearby: O’Connell St, Dublin Castle, Trinity College

Versailles Greater Paris, France
This was one of the places that I’d been adamant on going to, when we were planning out our trip. I don’t know much about France, but I’d seen Versailles in a lot of movies and I knew how utterly fabulous and dripping with over the top ornate detail it was. I bought tickets ahead of time online, and I highly recommend doing so. It made life a whole lot easier. The Palace of Versailles itself won’t take you very long to see, unless you’re like us and stand there gaping at every little thing. They start you out by looking at art that’s kept in the palace and showing you how each piece of the palace was added to the original structure. Then you get to see bedchambers, antechambers, and the great Hall of Mirrors itself. It’s enough to literally make your jaw drop. The ornate gardens and fountains outside only add to the over the top nature of Versailles. We spent hours outside, photographing everything and listening to the music that played throughout the grounds. It’s a place where you’ll want to spend more than a single day, if only to come close to seeing everything Versailles has to offer.
How to get there: Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche train station. Get return tickets too. It’ll make your life easier. Nearby: Not a whole lot, but you’ll mostly spend your time inside Versailles itself at any rate.

Northern Lights Just outside Reykjavik, Iceland
If you’ve never seen Aurora Borealis, or even if you have, it’s worth it to see them in Iceland. Reykjavik has a claim to fame when it comes to the lights, especially in my mind now. They dance in an array of colors and patterns, so brilliant and beautiful that the eye has no idea where it should be looking at any given time. You will miss parts of it, in the most brilliant displays. That’s just how it is. But while you’re watching, your jaw will drop and your eyes well with tears at the sheer magnitude of the beauty playing out before you. Even if you’ve seen them before, even if you don’t like the cold and don’t want to stand outside that long, it’s worth it to see them in a place like Iceland, a tiny country that is so accustomed to seeing them that they aren’t even mentioned in any of their historical books.
How to get there: Sometimes, if they’re very bright, you can see them from the city itself. This isn’t very common. Get a bus tour or a boat tour outside the city, for your best chance at seeing them.

Those are my Top Five. I have more lists like these to share with you, and I’ll be interspersing them with posts of pictures of the things we did and places we went. 
Thank you all again for following us through Europe, and I hope that Mum and I have inspired some of you to go on your own adventures far outside your comfort zones!
[love and Mavguard Edition IV – did I mention it’s out now?]
{Rani D.}

Stop #4: The Final Episode

For our last full day in Paris (and our last full day in Europe), we wanted to relax. I know, it sounds a little odd, but we'd been on the go so much over the past three weeks that we really just wanted to chill and prepare ourselves for the journey home. After all, going forward eight hours is a lot easier than going backward, and though we were greatly looking forward to going home at this point, even the idea of having to go back to our original timezone was daunting to say the least. So, for our last day, we did what we really wanted to do in Paris, and what most women say you should do in Paris:

We went shopping.

Yes, this means that we had a full day of shopping in London, and another in Paris... but we bought more in Paris. We also shopped on a Thursday, which meant places weren't as busy and far less stressful to look though. Oh, and sales. What woman doesn't like a good sale?!

Mum had Googled good places for shopping the night before, and come up with the Galeries Lafayette and another called Printemps right next door, which were (thankfully) only one short train ride away. That was where we started our morning. And to our great pleasure, when we walked inside, we came across none other than Angelina's.

In case you've forgotten, that's the place where we got hot chocolate and pastries a couple days ago. It's still delicious. This time, we ordered tea and coffee, and croissants -- all of which are amazing, and if you're in Paris, you should definitely go to Angelina's. They have the best hot chocolate in the country, and I'd say they have some of the best croissants ever as well. Also, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Yum. Yes please.

The Galeries Lafayette is seven levels of amazingness (though the seventh is just the terrace). The entire building we were in is devoted to women's clothes, accessories, etc. There were whole sections of coats, others of gloves, scarves, jewelry, perfume, dress clothes, casual wear, sports wear, lingerie, hosiery, shoes (of course!), and literally every pretty thing you could possibly want. Oh, and the top level was a mass of Parisian souvenirs, books, and writing stuff. You know me and writing stuff. ;-)

We took our time and went through each and every level that appealed to us, making note of the places we might want to go back to and try things on, until we got to level six -- the souvenirs. Here, the real shopping began. I'm not sure how long we spent up there, but we came down with some fun trinkets to remember our trip, and when we came down we were nowhere near done shopping. We went back to each of the designers we'd written down, and of course ended up getting a few things. When in Paris, shop!

I don't think I've ever seen a shopping mall so expansive and so much fun. I mean, we went into both Selfridges and Harrods while we were in London, but both were on the weekend and it was hard to get a feel for how nice the places were. This, because it was a Thursday and early enough in the day that no one else was out yet, was a really nice was to get to see the shopping in Paris. I greatly look forward to coming back!

When we'd semi had our fill of Lafayette, we walked down the street to Printemps. It's not as nice, I'll admit, but it's still nicer than anything we have in Albuquerque. I don't think that's hard to do.

All the way up on the sixth floor (yeah, there's six floors of women's stuff in this place too), there's a cafe. I don't remember what it's called, but actually, I don't think I ever knew. I think we just walked up and sat down. If you've been watching my Instagram, then you've seen pictures of our lunch there!

We each ordered a glass of wine (the house wines in Paris are just amazing -- no need or order high end) and split a plate of beef tartare with a side of fries. Kinda sounds weird, but when you taste the two together you see how well they go. It was amazing. I'd never had tartare before, but I like my meat rare so I figured it couldn't be much of a stretch. It wasn't. I want more tartare. Anyone have any good recipes?

In Printemps we pretty much spent our time looking for gifts for other people. I won't say who for or what they are, just so certain someone's don't find out what they're getting before we get it to them. ;-)

It ended with us going back to Lafayette and picking up a few things for another certain someone and then making our way back to the apartment to get ourselves situated and get our bags back in order. After all, we'd just bought a bunch of stuff, and our bags were mostly full already. Oops.

After almost an hour in the apartment, spent looking up restaurants in the area and trying to make everything fit in our bags, we left in search of dinner.
By now it was 7:00, later than either of us like to eat, but we wanted to do something a little more Parisian on our last night here. So we wandered around the area and looked at menus. At one point we ducked inside a restaurant and sat down, only to look at the menu and realize that absolutely nothing there sounded good. The staff didn't seem too displeased at our leaving without ordering, which made us feel a little better.

The hard part about finding a place to eat in Paris is that though every place has their menu posted outside, most of them aren't in English. So, though something might look good, you really can't tell what it is. And though some of those places also have English menus, they don't have them posted outside, and it gets old to continuously walk into restaurants and check for English. In the end, we realized that no matter what place we looked at, we were always comparing it to the restaurant we went to on our first night here, La Gorille. So, in good logic, we went back.

Surprisingly, and quite happily, they'd gotten an English menu by now! The last time, the waiter had kindly translated as much as he could, in adorable broken English. This time, he proudly came to our came and offered us something in our own language. Huzzah!

Again, if you've been watching my Instagram, then you'll know what we had for dinner. I ordered a rabbit fricassee with stewed onions and white raisins and a side of mashed potatoes, and Mum had cod with fried parsnips in a parsley sauce. The duck we'd had the other night was amazing, and if possible, this was even better.

Let me start this by stating a simple fact: I don't like raisins. I'd fully planned on picking them off my food and eating around them. But when they were put in front of me, I figured I should at least try one, you know, to be polite. And then I found myself constantly digging through onions to find more raisins, because the raisins were amazing and made every bite superbly delicious. Seriously, I know it's hard to eat a rabbit cause they're so cute and fuzzy and all, but they're so yummy that I really didn't care. I could've had two of them and been very happy.

Mum's cod was amazing too! It was perfectly cooked, flaky and delicious with crispy skin, and the parnips underneath were so good that neither of us could stop eating them. The sauce paired perfectly with both of them, brightening up the dish and transforming the cod from plain white fish into something so yummy that you couldn't not eat every last bite.

Yeah, we ate it all. And then we got dessert.

Before we get to that though, I have a little joke to tell you. It's a bad one, I'll warn you. But we're sleepy, and we have been for a while, so things like this are hilarious.

Me and Mum were talking about parsnips, which were in her dinner. And really, they're like a cross between a carrot and a potato. So logically, I said that they could be called a cotato, because they couldn't be a parrot.

Yep, that's the whole joke. Yep, it's awful.

Moving on. Dessert!

Ever put dark chocolate and lime together? Yeah, me either. But put them together in a mousse and add little tiny pieces of white chocolate for texture, and you have this dessert. And it was amazing. We ordered one to share, and we had it polished off in no time. It was delivered, and in minutes it was gone. It would've been sooner, but it took me a minute to get a picture and post it to Instagram. ;-)

All in all, this was a great day in Paris. We both got exactly what we were looking for, we had a great time in each other's company and enjoying both the food and the experience of Paris shopping. It's definitely something that I would recommend doing, especially if you're one of those who's a huge fan of Paris already. Me, I'm a London girl, but Paris may have it when it comes to the shops.

The next day, our last day in Europe, we decided to do something a little more touristy. But first, we had to pack everything up and take it up the ridiculous windy staircase in our host's house, which, by the way, had been painted black. So not only was it tiny and winding, but we couldn't see where we were going when we were on it. No bueno. We had to work together to get each suitcase back up the stairs without dinging the walls.

See, check out at the place we were staying was supposed to be at eleven in the morning, when the housekeeper came to clean everything up for the next guests. But our flight wasn't until eight that night, so our host was kind enough to let us leave our suitcases at the apartment as long as they were packed and upstairs, and nothing was in the housekeeper's way. Which meant we had to get everything back up to the top. But we made it without too much error, and by ten that morning we were on our way to our final touristy destinations: Notre Dame and Saint-Chappel.

Now, something that we'd discovered along this trip was that neither me nor Mum are very good at walking slowly. We walk fast. We do it at home, too. I have no idea how to do anything slowly, actually. I like the idea of meandering through an area, but I just can't do it. That was why we figured we could easily fit two places into this morning and afternoon.

It started with a walk across the river to the little island thingy where both Chappel and Notre Dame are located. We walked past Notre Dame on our way to Chappel, taking a few pictures of its side and some of the interesting architecural features before we continued on.

If you don't know what Saint-Chappel is, you really need to look it up. There's stained-glass as far as the eye can see, and it's stunningly beautiful. Every piece is different and intricate, depicting biblical scenes or scenes from the history of the area, and there's no way to take it all in in the span of a short time like that. In fact, we spent the better part of an hour just photographing the glass, trying to capture as much of it as we could so when we got home we'd be able to zoom in and see some of it a little more closely. As always, pictures to come, as soon as I can.

From there, we walked down to Notre Dame. The interesting thing about this place was that neither of us had any desire to go inside. The part we really liked about it was the outside, the architectural features that made the building so very unique. Seeing it from the side, you wouldn't think it's the same building that you see from the front. Same with the back! When we first saw it, from behind, we weren't sure what building it was. Then we came around to where we could see the front, the iconic image of Notre Dame, and it took our breath away. Beautiful. In my eyes, it's a must see if you're in Paris. Even if you don't go inside, just go look at it. It's fascinating (and the gargoyles are pretty fun too).

When we'd taken a sufficiently exhuberant number of pictures there, we walked to the other side of the river in search of an early lunch. There was one specific food that we'd been looking for since we'd arrived in Paris, a food that I greatly enjoy here in the States but that came from France and is supposed to be superb in Paris. Croque Madame.

Basically, it's a ham and cheese sandwich with a cheese sauce over the top and a fried egg over it all. And it's delicious.

We'd been looking for one for a while, and we hadn't found anything, which was sad. Some places had them, but they only served them in the afternoon (while here in the States it's more of a breakfast food). And then we came upon a little Italian place that had Croque Monsieur, and whose owner said they could make it into a Madame for us. Yay!

We were the only people in the little restaurant at that hour, which was nice since it meant we could sit in the quiet and enjoy our final lunch in Europ. Which felt strange. We'd been planning this trip for years (literally), and now it was coming to a close. With only slight melancholy, we ate our lunch and remarked on how authentic the Croque Madame is at this little place back in Albuquerque, La Quiche, and when we finished eating, the owner came up an rattled off a list of crepes we could have to complete the meal.

Neither of us had planned on dessert... but crepes! So we ordered a crepe suzette to split, after he described it for us. Basically, it's a crepe with candied orange inside, covered in Grand Mariner and set aflame tableside. Oh my goodness was it delicious. The Grand Marnier and the orange paired together so well that we almost thought about ordering a second one, but we knew we had a long flight that night, and it was probably best if we didn't eat too much beforehand.

By this time, it was only about noon. That meant we still had eight hours before our flight. We had to check out of the place we were staying no later than five, but it was going to be a half hour taxi ride to the airport and we knew nothing about that airport, so we wanted to leave early... but not eight hours early.

So what did the fast-walkers do? We walked around, of course!

But we wanted to stay in the general area of Bastille, close to the apartment, so it wouldn't be too much of a jaunt to go get our bags. Also, Google has no idea what's in this area. Seriously. No idea whatsoever. Every other place where we were, in every other city, Google knew what was around. Here, it hadn't a clue. So in wandering around, we ended up finding a lot of cute places that we wishes we'd known about before, so we could've gone to them earlier in the trip. Our bags were packed by now, so we couldn't have bought anything even if we wanted to. No point in shopping, then.

We walked down to the pantheon, which I still don't know what it is. It's a big building with a dome on top. I don't know. We weren't sure what to do. So back down to Notre Dame we went, to see how long the lines were to go inside. Too long for our liking. Okay... It was only a twenty minute walk to the Luxembourg Gardens, so we went there. It was pretty, but nothing like Versailles or St Stephen's Green or any of the parks we'd been to anywhere else. It was, however, a decent place to sit down and enjoy our last hours in Paris. We walked through the gardens and took pictures of the fountains, the statues, the flowers. We tried to make ourselves walk slowly, to enjoy everything that was around and before us, but of course, when you have a flight later that day, it's hard to think of anything but that flight.

It was a forty minute walk back to the apartment, which was longer than we'd anticipated, but doable. So we started back. By three, we'd arrived there and were hauling our things down the main spiral staircase, toward the ground floor, excitement starting to encroach about going back home and seeing the people we love. This trip was fun, but it'd been three weeks away from everyone, and it was time to get back.

We caught a taxi just outside. We'd thought about doing the underground in Paris, but it just would've been too much of a hassle with all our bags, and we'd only just started to make sense of the system in this country. Taxis are easier, and now it's a set rate if you're going to the airport, so we knew upfront how much it was going to be.

CDG Airport in Paris is weird. Really, really weird. We had a hard time figuring out what we were doing. There were shops just inside, where you could get duty free stuff if you were from out of the country. But there weren't any signs for going through security, for getting to your gate. Odd. Then we came across these escalator tubes that take you up to another level of shops and eateries, but again, nothing about going through security and finding our gate. Down a looooooong corridor somewhere on that level, we finally found it. But we couldn't tell if there were places to eat on the other side of it, and we had no idea who we could ask to find out. See, by now it was close to four in the afternoon, our flight wasn't until eight, and we wanted to eat a little something before we got on our way.

Fortunately, we found a little kiosk that tells you what's by your gate, once your scan your boarding pass. That made things easier. On the other side of security, according to the kiosk, there would be a few shops and a couple of eateries. Only, when we got through security, nothing was open.

Apparently, though all the rest of the shops and eateries in the whole airport were open, those near the gates only open two hours before any flight leaves. Which is a little annoying if you want to eat something before your flight, cause it's nicer to digest a bit before getting on a plane, if you know what I mean. *sigh* so we waited. After all, once you're on this side of security, you can't go back.

It was a long wait, but we made the best of it. We sat close to our gate and talked about the trip, all the fun things we'd done and new experiences we'd had. Neither of us could honestly say what was our favorite part of the trip, what one thing stood out above all the rest. But we both knew what place was in my heart, what place I still wanted to go back to.

We'd gotten to see plays, eat foreign food, see historical sights, castles, and palaces, venture into new worlds of culture and language, and neither of us had gotten enough. This trip will not be our last.

At eight that evening, we boarded our flight for New York. This time, I won't bore you with minute details of the trip. All we did from here on out was go home. I watched Godzilla to drown out the noise of a crying child, Finding Dory to help me fall asleep, all the while watching Mum semi-peacefully rest beside me. When we arrived in New York, we semi-chaotically found our way to our hotel (the AirTrain service was down, so everything was a mess), where we stayed only about six hours before we were on our way again.

Saturday was a day of taxis, flights, and eventually landing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to find not just Dad but my brother and sister-in-law too, waiting for us just outside the terminal. They'd even brought our Nelson dog with them, confusedly sitting in the car wondering why he wasn't allowed to go outside. Our family helped us with our bags and brought us home. The boys went out and got pizza and wings, and Mum and I regaled them with tales from our trip. We unpacked our bags and gave out the little souvenirs we'd bought for everyone, talking about what we'd gone through to pick everything out. 

And now, my friends. I'm home. In fact, I'm sitting in bed as I write these words, the end to our Europe adventure. It's Sunday morning, and the melancholy has started to set in. We've spent two years planning this adventure, and now it's over. I didn't even recognize my own room last night. We're no longer in Europe, and pieces of my heart have been left behind.

But not to worry!

I still have a lot more European things to share with you. I'm still on semi-hiatus from Too Many Books to Count until sometime in November, so keep your eyes out for posts about my top things to do in each country we've visited, tips and tricks for getting around and traveling safely, best eateries (of course), and pictures of everywhere we've gone.

Thank you so much for joining me and Mumsy on our adventure! We've enjoyed sharing it with all of you!

[love and stamps in our passports]

{Rani D. + Mumsy}

Stop #4: Part 1

[Let's recap! Rule 1: I'm not going to proofread, and you're not going to care. Rule 2: This may get long, and you're not going to care. :-) ]

We didn't go very far on our day out of London either, but it sure felt like we did.

In planning our trip, we thought it would be extra fun to squeeze an extra country into the running, to make it five countries instead of four. I know, four seems like plenty. Maybe it should've been. But we bought train tickets, the Eurostar out of London (the chunnel, for those who like to call it that) straight to Brussels and a second set from Brussels to Paris, all in the same day.

We'd decided to take the train for three primary reasons:

1. Getting to go through the channel tunnel between England and France
2. Getting to visit an extra country (Belgium)
3. Getting to see the countryside

Unfortunately, one of these things didn't happen, another was painful, and the third... wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Now, I'd like to mention that I've never really taken a train before. I mean, I've taken them, but not like this. Not one that's going across borders or anything of the like. And certainly not one that goes beneath a channel of water. Well, the tunnels that go beneath that channel of water, along with a few other tunnels along the way, do something inside one's head. It's called a severe pressure change, and it hurts. If you're not used to it, if you don't like having to constantly pop your ears, I highly recommend getting on a plane rather than taking the train. Seriously. My head hurt. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

But the other thing you should know about trains is that they are incredibly relaxing. I was ready to fall asleep the moment the train started moving. My sister-in-law is like this with cars, and apparently I'm this way with trains. If you need a nice nap and want to go somewhere along the way, get a train ticket! So, though we'd wanted to see the countryside, we really didn't get to... because we were sleeping.

The third thing, really, is a matter of opinion. We didn't enjoy Brussels. I should mention that we were only there for about four hours, but in that time, we didn't get a great opinion of it. The train station was confusing, the people made me somewhat uncomfortable, and there was something in that city that really rubbed my spirit the wrong way and I just wanted to go home. Like, all the way back to the States, home. Lunch was the only good thing about that trip, and really, the best part of that was the potato and cheese croquettes. If you ever find yourself in Brussels and you're looking for something to eat, definitely give these a go. Fried potato and cheese? How can that possibly go wrong!

Despite the croquettes of deliciousness, I wouldn't go back to Brussels, or Belgium in general, if given the opportunity. The rest of the countries we've visited, I'd go back to in a heartbeat, especially now that we've figured this one out.

Paris is only a short one and a half hour train ride from Brussels, so it wasn't far to get here. But Gare Du Nord, the central hub of most public transport, is confusing as all get out. Really, after spending almost an hour in there, we still didn't understand it. We tried going to information, and they pointed us in the wrong direction to find the underground. We tried finding it ourselves, but we couldn't figure out the ticketing system or what train we would've needed to get on. So after much annoyance and much pacing back and forth across the length of the entire station, we got a taxi.

You've heard the phrase "don't take a taxi in Paris"? Well, they're right. Don't do it. I'll just leave it at that. I think at this point it's best for my sanity if I forget the whole ordeal.

The driver dropped us off in front of the building where we're staying, and we followed our host's instructions to get inside... and we couldn't figure out how to work the key. Oy. Vey. Paris doors are confusing, and I'd never seen a key like this in my life. I'll try to find a picture of a similar one so I can show you (can't really send you a picture of my host's key, can I?). Fortunately, he was nice enough to come home early and let us inside, which was utterly embarrassing as it was super easy for him and we'd been fiddling with the door for over half an hour. *facepalm* Oops...

The brightest point of the day was the dinner to which our host suggested us. We walked into this little place round the corner, called Gorilla (in French), and were greeted by one of the nicest people I've met on this trip. Their menu was newly updated and they hadn't yet had time to translate it into English, but he very kindly did his best to describe the specials, and we used Google translate to help us figure out parts of the menu.

In the end, we ended up with a salmon tartare type thing over what I can only describe as horseradish panna cotta, followed by a roast duck breast with a side of roasted root veg. If it hadn't been for that dinner, the whole day would've been a wash. But this meal... Oh, this meal. It was the epitome of amazing French dinners, and we've been talking about it ever since.

But when that day finally ended, we were still glad for it to go, and very ready to take on the next one, which was a great deal more fun. 

If you come to Paris, and you have a day or two that you're not sure what to do with, I have a spectacular suggestion: go to Versailles. If you have two days to spare, use both of them. And get your tickets online ahead of time if you can -- it'll save a lot of time and effort on the days in question.

We personally only had one day open, but I really wanted to see Versailles, so I bought the one-day passport ticket that let us into the entire place.

The tour starts in the palace itself, which is just as ornate as you'd think it would be. The French don't like to be outdone in anything, and they never have. Everything is filigree and gold with paintings on the walls and the ceilings, mirrors on the walls and tapestries hung from on high, chandeliers of crystal hanging as far as the eye can see, and people's hands holding cameras that block your vision.

*sigh*

If you go at the time's suggested by Versailles, you'll do well here. Try to get to the palace by nine in the morning (when it opens) to see it before things get crazy. We weren't able to do this, due to some confusion at the train station, but we got there as soon as we could. Ten wasn't soon enough.

However, everything was still just as beautiful, and neither of us really wanted to mess with taking pictures inside in the first place. The camera wants to use flash, but flash makes it look weird, but it's dark so you can't see anything, and it's just a mess. I took a few, so we'll see if I have anything worth sharing with you when the time comes.

The palace was beautiful. We'll just say that. Everything was gorgeous. Honestly, neither of us really knew where to look at any point in time, all because literally everything is beautiful. Literally, in the literal sense. Everything. Is. Beautiful.

And then you go outside.

If you thought inside was amazing and jaw-dropping (literally -- Mum and I stood there with our mouths hanging open in some of those rooms), just wait until you get to the gardens.

Before you get there, however, I highly recommend taking a breather and going to Angelina's. It's in the palace, shortly before the exit toward the gardens. They have the best hot chocolate in Paris (or so I've been told -- it was sublime, though) and all sorts of pastries to suit your desires. It was also a great pickmeup after the pushing and shoving inside the palace. I don't remember what our pastries were, nor could I spell them if my life depended on it, so we'll just say it was delicious and leave it at that. I think mine had caramel in it, and Mum's had grapefruit. 

We went on musical fountains day, which I believe are Tuesdays and Thursdays? It was a Tuesday when we went, but it's October so it's not as busy as usual. Most people recommend not going to these days, because things get very busy, but it was chilly and October, so there aren't as many tourists around. We were in the gardens from a little after noon until half past two.

Classical music plays all around the gardens as you follow the suggested path to cover all the best things in the area (which we did, and which means we skipped about half of the gardens -- we probably could've spent an extra two hours in there, if not more), and fountains play at various times along the path. It is stunning. Everywhere you look, there's something new to see. I read before we bought our tickets that even in Octorber, things will be in bloom in the gardens because the French make sure there's always something blooming at Versailles. Remember how everything was ornate and highly detailed inside? Yeah, it's the same out here.

If you don't have a ton of time, follow the path they lay out for you (be sure to pick up the gardens map on your way in), otherwise, I highly suggest taking your time and going through every single area. There's so much to see, really, that it's hard to fit even the gardens into a day. And those aren't the only gardens in Versailles!

Once we finished there, or, once we'd walked along the whole suggested route and then some, we made our way to the Grand Trianon. Don't know if I spelled that right, but it's late and I don't feel like checking. ;-)

Everything inside, once again, is utterly ornate and fascinating to see. We even got to go down into the kitchens and see a little bit more than they usually allow visitors to see without a guide. Not really sure why that was, but I can't read French and all the signs were (you guessed it) in French. Still, very pretty. It was a short go, but we enjoyed it.

Back outside, we really didn't know where to go. It's a little bit confusing in this area, but if you just keep walking in the general direction of away-from-the-Grand-Trianon (whatever direction that is), you'll end up at the Hamlet and the Queen's Estate. I don't know which one we were at, because we were a little confused in there. But there's a farm, and cottages, and a little lake with fishies (!) and goats and chickens and sheep and grape vines and pumpkins and all sorts of farmland in the middle of palace grounds. It's great fun to walk through and get pictures of, and there are places where you can pick up food and take it to a picnicking area, which looked like a lot of fun if we'd had time... but we didn't.

We wanted to pack as much of Versailles into one day as we possibly could, and I think we did a good job of that. My feet aren't so sure that it was a good idea, but they've been saying that throughout the whole trip, and they've been fine. ;-)

The moral of the story is: go to Versailles, even if you only have a day to do it. You won't regret it, I swear.

The next day, we did what every good American tourist in Paris should do. We visited Lady Liberty's little sister. (not where you thought I was going, was it?)
If you didn't know, New York's very own statue of liberty has a couple of sisters here in Paris, one of which Mum and I went to see today. Amusingly, neither of us have seen the one in New York... but at least now we've seen one of the ones in Paris! It's a start, right? She's pretty small, but I think we got some decent pictures. We walked along the Seine and photographed her and some of the architecture around the area, and decided that Dublin was nicer for bridges. There was one every five minute walk or so. Paris, not so much. Our feet weren't very pleased with us, but we pushed on. It helped that we came across a creperie and purchased two ham and cheese crepes. Yeah, yeah, doesn't do much good for my feet. But if the stomach is happy, everything's happy. ;-)

The best thing, really, was that the Statue of Liberty was only about a twenty minute walk from none other than the Eiffel Tower! (that's where you thought I was going earlier, wasn't it?)

Just like with Versailles, we'd gotten our tickets ahead of time, for three in the afternoon. That meant we could get in to the underside of the tower whenever we wanted, but couldn't go up into the tower itself until three. Which nothing really said online, so if you were wondering, that's how it works.

Due to the tickets not working until three, we hung out for a bit in the park and looked up some shops in the area. Oh yeah, and it was cold.

When we looked up the forecast for this trip, during the planning stages and even a couple weeks ago when we were packing and getting ready to go, it was supposed to be sunny and in the upper sixties while we were here. It's not. It's chilly, in the mid to high fifties, windy, foggy, and it's supposed to rain. Not cool, weather. Well, I guess it's too cool. Grr... Anyway, we were cold, and we thought shopping might warm us up. That will make sense if you're an avid shopper. Trying on clothes is not a cool event.

There's a street called the Rue Du Commerce, only about a twenty minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, and it's not a very touristy area. It's more of a locals scene, with venders selling meats, fruits, and cheeses, alongside shops of every shape and size selling pretty much everything you could ever want. We had about an hour and a half to spare when we got there, so we fit in as many shops as we could, and I ended up with a wrap to keep my ears warm and a pair of fingerless gloves so my hands wouldn't freeze and I could still take pictures. Woo!

Now, if you ever go shopping in Paris, there's something you should check for. A lot of the stores, even the ones claiming to only sell stuff made in France, are selling things that are made in China. So if you're looking for some authentic Parisian stuff, you'll need to read the labels. A lot of what we saw this day was made in India and China, and for what I got it really didn't matter, but I'll certainly be looking for something more Parisian before we leave.

Before we'd had our fill, it was time to head back to the tower.

I'd heard, before we left, both sides of the spectrum as to how big the Eiffel Tower is. Some people told me that it's way bigger than you'd expect. Others said that it's dinky and not worth a visit. If you've heard both of those and you take both opinions into account, you'll probably be expecting about the right size. It's not huge, but it's not dinky. It's exactly the size that I thought it would be. And it's also a lot of fun.

There are a couple little shops and eateries down on the ground, but the fun stuff is up above. (also, never buy anything from any of the guys right outside the doors -- a lot of them are pickpockets or are working with pickpocketers, so it's very dangerous to event attempt getting anything from them)

If you come with a reservation, as soon as it's time, they'll let you up into the tower itself. Wait in line for about five minutes, and an elevator will take you to the middle level. Here, there are souvenir shops, a macaron shop, an eatery, and some great views of the city. The macarons are amazing and you should definitely get one. We were going to take a picture of us eating them, as evidence that we ate macarons on the Eiffel Tower... but instead we just ate them, because they're delicious.

When you're getting your tickets, make sure you get the ones that will take you all the way to the summit of the tower. It's really not that much more expensive, and if you're going to go, you might as well go to the top. It can take up to a half hour in line to get up there, but I think it's worth it just to say you've been there, and of course to see the views. Pictures when we get home -- I promise!

All in all, the tower was a great deal of fun. We enjoyed ourselves, took many pictures, and ended up spending about an hour and a half there in total. There's not a ton to see and do, but there's enough to fill a couple hours if there's a lot you want to see from up there.

When we'd had our fill, we went back the way we'd come and walked along the Seine once more, this time closer to Notre Dame (which is beautiful, by the way, and which we'll go to later in the trip), and found a place for dinner. Charcuterie in Paris is just as good as you'd think it would be, and you should certainly get some while you're here. Also, get the duck, and eat the fat. Duck fat is as good for you as it is delicious when it's done right, and the French know their duck. Yummmmmmmm... I'd tell you where we ate, but I honestly don't know. I suggest just walking around and reading menus until you find something to your liking. Most restaurants in tourist areas have menus in both French and English, so it shouldn't be hard to find something. :-)

[love and macarons]

{Rani D.}

Stop #3, Part 2

Day four in London, we were still basking in the glow that was seeing Phantom of the Opera the day before. Literally, I woke up singing Phantom songs, and had several of them stuck in my head throughout the day. And we're listening to the soundtrack right now, as I write up day four's itinerary.

We'd planned out day four during day three's brunch, so we knew exactly what we wanted to do and how long we had to do them. We'd even taken the time to set up reservations for what we wanted to do at the end of the day, since it's a Friday and we really didn't want to deal with finding a place to go on a Friday night. Reservations make life so much easier, let me tell you. Really wish we'd thought of that back in Dublin. Oh well.

The day started at the Mansion House stop on the Bakerloo line, for those of you who were curious. We picked up an americano for Mum and a chai latte for me, and walked across the Southwark bridge toward the Anchor and Shakespeare's Globe, of course, taking pictures along the way. I took several hundred pictures on day four, so it may take me a while to weed through them and post the highlights, but I will get to it within the next couple of weeks, don't worry. There will be highlights posts after we get back, for those of you who haven't wanted to read the lengthiness of these, and for those who'd like a little more condensed information later on, in case you're looking for something in particular from an earlier post and can't find it. I know, I have a lot of words. I have trouble condensing myself. And I digress a lot. Obviously.

Getting back on track...

I really wanted to walk across the millenium bridge. I'd seen it online, and it's just a really cool bridge. Not to mention the fact that I'm extremely tickled by its story. It opened at the millenium, but that had to nearly instantly close it, as it was very  wobbly. It opened again two years later, and it's just a very cool bridge. It's also just across the way from St Paul's Cathedral, which allows for some really great pictures of the dome.

It's probably obvious, but our next stop was St Paul's. We didn't go inside, being that we were mainly interested in getting pictures of the ornate details outside. I think I took about a hundred pictures just there, standing in front of the cathedral, and I could've taken far more than that. There's just so much detail in every single piece of the exterior, that you can stand there looking at it for hours and notice new things with every single minute. There's that much to it. I didn't come close to getting pictures of it all, but I got a great many.

We walked around the area, down the street, through an archway off to the side of the cathedral and took pictures of anything and everything interesting enough to photograph. Hundreds of pictures, I'm telling you.

Something I should mention: we've been using the underground to move around the city. Obviously. But it's not exactly the best way to get from point a to point b within the city center. If you use the underground in these areas, you'll miss a lot. And I mean a lot. So, I highly recommend walking. By our calculations of how much we walked today, we've probably walked between six and ten miles every day. It's a lot of walking, but you don't really notice it until the end of the day. Why? Because you're looking up the whole time, at the beauty of the architecture and the fascinating things that surround you. It's beautiful to be in the midst of that much history, and I do not recommend taking the underground so much that you miss it. But if you're staying a bit away from the city center, the underground is a great way to start and end your day.

While we were photographing things around St Paul's, it started to rain. Ah, time for the umbrellas again! We'd purchased them specifically for London, because everyone says that it always rains in London, so we figured we'd need them. And now we finally got to use them in London! ...while we hurried down the street to the oldest pub in London, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

Our waiter was the most adorable little old man you've ever seen. He was like the classic English butler kind of guy, super sweet and really cute in the way he moved around the pub. He seated us and brought us a bottle of water, and we sat back to watch the birdy (yes, there's a parrot in the pub). We ordered a duck and port pate to start, which was the perfect combination of sweet and savory when mixed with the light jam it was served beside. Super. Yummy. To be followed shortly by fish and chips, which you'll have seen if you've been following me on Instagram. Also very delicious, especially when doused in malt vinegar.

Another note: I think what people really mean when they say British food is bland, is that they don't use enough salt. They really don't. But, that's easily remedied. And once there's enough salt, it's fabulous.

We left very happy to have finally had fish and chips in London. You definitely have to do that if you're ever in this town. I think it's a requirement.
From there we walked down to the Thames and followed it up to the Houses of Parliament, where we diverted to none another than Westminster Abbey.

Okay, I know I say this a lot, but you really have to go see the Abbey if you're in London. There's just so much history there, so much to see and so much to experience. It's a bit annoying because there's almost always a crowd, but if you can get past that, it's really something you have to do. I can't even describe the feeling you get while you're standing a few feet from the place where the Queen herself was crowned, and to see the coronation chair itself. If you haven't been, you need to go. If you don't do anything else I've suggested, do this.

Outside, we asked Google to lead us to Covent Garden, where we'd made our reservations for the evening.

Another thing I should mention: we've been using Google Maps to get everywhere. Literally everywhere. We used it in Reykjavik, Keflavik, Dublin, and now in London. It's great. Use the walking map. It will glitch sometimes, but if you know how to read a map, you'll be fine. However, Mum did lead us completely in the wrong direction today... but I suppose that's beside the point. ;-)

After getting turned around a few times, we ran into the Queen's Cavalry! We could hardly see above the crowds watching them, but it was still a cool thing to see. Two of the soldiers were mounted on horseback, the rest on the ground. We only caught the tail end of what they were doing, but it was still a really cool thing to see. Look it up if you're in the area.

Google led us through Trafalgar Square, and we found ourselves suddenly recognizing where we were. When you're not in your home city, it's a great feeling to know where you are, I swear. I think that's what made the Temple Bar area in Dublin so great. Once you've been through it once or twice, you know your way around. Parts of London are like that too. Trafalgar Square isn't one of them, unless you're used to people driving on the left and roundabouts. We're not.

Now we get to the fun part.

The day before, I'd gotten to take my Mum to see Phantom of the Opera. Now, on day four, I got to take her for afternoon tea. We'd made reservations at Kingsway Hall the night before, and planned to have a slightly early dinner/afternoon tea, to make things easier for the rest of the night.

What did we have, you ask? Well, I'll tell you!

It started with Kingsway Hall Blend Tea, keemun black tea with coconut flakes, chocolate pieces, and cocoa nibs.

But then there was more!

A glass of champagne, along with grilled chicken caesar wraps, sandwiches of cucumber mint on basil bread and egg, watercress, and mustard mayonnaise on white bread, a cumberland sausage roll with mustard seeds, plain and fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jelly, an orange and chocolate delice, honey madelines, a chocolate eclair, and a summer berry tarlet.

Oh. My. Goodness. We each had our own pots of tea, which we both finished. And we both ate everything put before us. Literally everything was delicious, and I don't even like tea sandwiches! Seriously, I would never eat cucumber unless it was pickled. But I ate these, gladly.

I know I've already said this about something else, but if you don't do anything that I've suggested while you're in London, you simply must get afternoon tea. There are literally hundreds of different places you can go to get it, many of which don't require reservations. It's a little pricy, but worth every penny (and yes, pennies are still called pennies in England).

Next day, we let ourselves sleep in just a teeny bit. No sense going full speed for days when your body needs a break, so we took a little one. Plus, we knew we had a full day of walking ahead of us, and we thought it best to start out slowly.

Saturday morning, our first order of business was to walk to Kensington Palace. We're staying only about twenty minutes away, so it seemed simpler than to ride the underground. Besides, it meant we had the opportunity to walk through the gardens on our way to the palace itself. Great fun.

The gardens are huge. I mean huge. There was so much to see that there was no way we could've fit all of it and the palace into one day. We did get a lot of pictures in the areas where we were, so I should have a wide array of pictures for you. Kensington Palace, however, is a great deal of fun -- and a must see, if you're a fan of Victoria and Albert.

We walked quickly through the gardens on our way to the palace itself, only taking minimal pictures at that point. The palace was so cool to get to see. I don't know much about Victoria and Albert, myself, but I know they were an arranged marriage and that they actually deeply loved each other. The walls have been decorated with words from Victoria's journals, the rooms filled with objects from her life, and it's really truly beautiful. Paired with an exhibition about the style and fashion of the Queen and Princess Diana (among others), which was a great deal of fun if you're as fond of fashion as I am, Kensington Palace has made its way to be one of my favorite things that we've done while we've been in London.

The gardens were also just so much fun. I should mention, to clarify, that Mum is a bird-watcher, and that because of that, I've become a bird-spotter. It's like a game, really. Listen to the tweeting, find the bird. It's harder than it sounds! We played a lot of this game, looking for birds we didn't know the names of, because we hadn't thought to look at anything like that before we came out here. Trying to take pictures of them is even harder though! I have pictures of absolutely nothing, at the fault of a bird who hopped out of sight right as the shutter closed. Boo. Hopefully I'll have some decent shots for you. We'll see.

After going through the palace and the gardens immediately outside, our stomachs reminded us of that ever-important thing that we'd neglected to do thus far. Lunch.

At this point in the day, it was getting really nice out. The clouds were starting to clear, it felt nice and warm, and we'd even considered taking our coats off. It'd seemed a waste to bring our umbrellas along at all.

...And then it rained. And rained. We hid under a tree, hoping it would block the rain. It didn't. So we ducked into a parking garage, only to be joined by dozens of other people and get pushed out into the rain. And so we found ourselves standing outside Arcadia, a quaint little Italian place. They had a charcuterie plate, so we were sold. You know how it is. ;-) We followed it with a plate of linguine and clams, which were delicious enough and filling enough to mean we wouldn't have a real dinner that night. Homemade charcuterie plates for the win! They're seriously convenient if you're not very hungry and don't have the time for much more.

By the time we left Arcadia, the rain had ceased and the ground was starting to dry, so we went back into the park. This time, we didn't take as many pictures. We strolled around in no particular direction, until we came upon the Albert Memorial.

That memorial is one of the most beautiful that I've ever laid eyes on. Somehow, in that memorial, I could really see how much Victoria loved her husband. She wouldn't have had such a beautiful memorial built for him, so ornate and so highly detailed, so full of richness and beauty, if she hadn't seen all those things in him. It nearly moved me to tears.

From there, we found a map that led us to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. I've seen a few memorial fountains in my time, but this one was like nothing I'd ever laid eyes on. It wasn't big and awe-inspiring like most of the memorials in London. Instead, it's simple and understated, something you could easily miss if you weren't paying close attention. It's a place to sit in the quiet and relax, a place where I could easily sit and write. If you're ever in Kensington Gardens and you need a place to think, go here. You won't regret it.

When we'd finished in the gardens, we decided that it was time to shop. Logical progression, right?

Oxford Street is just off Hyde Park, adjacent to Kensington Gardens, so that was where we went first -- in search of none other than Selfridges.

If you like shopping, designer stuff, and more things to look at than you could possibly have time to look at, this is one of the stores you'll want to go to. There are even cafes inside, so you won't have to leave in search of food. Trouble is, if you go on a Saturday, there are zillions of other people inside. The store was hot and crowded, and we didn't feel like dealing with it, so we left and walked back across Hyde Park to Harrod's.

Honestly, the two stores are very similar. But Harrod's has a feel of class to it, while Selfridge's really didn't, to me. Harrod's was all lit up with Christmas lights, most of a level of the store set aside for Christmas stuff, and everything about it was a lighter feel than the prior store. We spent a lot longer here, enough time for Mum to find a couple tea cozies and me to find a notebook to add to my collection.

All in all, both fun stores, both with more to see than I could possibly look at in less than a couple days, and both are probably ones I'll go back to. But you might want to plan it better so you're not there in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday.

In leaving Harrod's the sun was already down, and our feet were ready for the day to be over... but we were about half an hour from where we're staying. We didn't know that we really wanted to walk all the way back across the park at night, so after deliberation (and discovering that there was very little cell service near Harrod's) we hailed a cab. We'd never done that before! the cab took us to Paddington Station, where we promptly felt completely lost, because nothing looked like it should've. The driver had dropped us off on the other side of the station, which at Paddington just so happens to be a ways away. *sigh*

The moral of the story? Tell your cab driver exactly where you want to go, or plan a way home before you walk a half an hour away from the place your staying.

Or, shop until you drop, and figure it all out on the fly! Apparently, that was what we thought was our best option.

We spent the rest of the evening in foot recovery mode, glasses of wine in hand.

For our final day, we had nothing planned. That meant we could do whatever we wanted -- so, like the good women we are, we went shopping. Literally. That was all we did, all day. So for today, I don't have much to tell you. We didn't even really eat until dinner, except to have pastries at Paul Depuis again. So I only have two places and three places and three things to tell you about.

1. Cadenza

This is a store we actually found a few days ago, but both of us regretted that we hadn't bought anything when we were in there the first time. Also, we didn't know what it was the first time. We just saw sparkly jewelry and ducked inside, without looking at the name of the shop. Yeah, that made it harder to find in the future. But find it we did! And I highly recommend it, if you haven't been before.

It's a part of the Swarovski family, so all the crystals are Swarovski but the designers are from all over the place, so you'll see things very different from what's in the usual Swarovski stores. We both found earrings, and we were on our way.

Definitely worth a stop, especially if you're like us and you like sparkle. Some things are a little pricy, but it's worth it even to step inside and take a look around.

2. l'Occitane

If you walk around London at all, you'll notice the smell of rose. Everywhere. It's because that's the Queen's favorite scent, and everyone likes to smell like her. Well, l'Occitane has the best rose scent in town, if you ask me. They also have a plethora of other scents that are downright amazing. Scents in the US tend to give me a headache that will last into the next week, but the scents here are so nice and pure that I could walk through this store all day and feel nothing but happy.

If you're a perfume person, check it out. Again, some things are a little pricy, but it's worth it for higher quality goods.

3. Simpson's in the Strand

For our final act in London, we wanted to do something spectacular. And we had one particular food dish that we really wanted to try while we were here.

Yeah, my final note in London is about food. I like food. And I know you do too, so no complaints. ;-)

Simpson's in the Strand is an absolute must if you're visiting London. Now, I should mention that it's a nice place. It's in a hotel, and a very nice hotel. So in order to be seated in the restaurant, you have to be dressed at least decently nicely. A nice pair of jeans and a sweater or blouse should be fine, ladies. Guys, a nice pair of pants and a dress shirt. This place is niiiiiiice.

When you're seated, a waiter comes by to ask what you'd like to drink, followed by another who left us the wine list, and another carrying a tray of bread, which he served with a pair of silver tongs. You're seated at a table covered in white cloth, with silverware already laid and a fine white napkin laid out in front of you and a bread plate to your left. The waiters wear suits with white gloves, and treat everyone with the utmost respect. It's a place where you come to feel pampered, and boy did we.

And then there was the food. As I already mentioned, Mum and I knew exactly what we wanted to eat from before we'd even gotten there. And for the first time since coming to London, we weren't sharing.

Beef Wellington.

If you haven't had it, it's basically the most delicious cut of beef known to mankind, wrapped in puff pastry and served with a black peppercorn sauce.

We were in food heaven.

I've had Beef Wellington before, but never one as good as this. It was a very sad moment when the plate was empty, and there was no more to eat. But we were both very thankful that we hadn't decided to share here. Too good to split between two people.

What followed was a sampler of English desserts, most of which I don't know the names of. If you go to Simpson's, I highly recommend getting this. It's five little desserts, all of them light and not to sweet, so you won't feel extremely stuffed when you're done. And every bite is still decadent and delicious, worth every penny.

I will certainly be going back to Simpson's in the Strand. No doubt of it.

After dinner, we took a stroll through the brisk evening air to get some (mostly blurry) pictures of Big Ben and the London Eye in their lit-up splendor.

All in all, London has so far been our favorite stop of the trip, and though we're excited to move onto our final locations, we'll miss what we've left behind here. I could live in London and be a very happy woman -- that's how much I've enjoyed this beautiful city.

[love]

{Rani Divine}

Stop #3: Part 1

[Reminders! Rule #1: I'm not going to proofread, and you're not going to care. Rule #2: This is going to be long, and you're not going to care. <3]

Oh, this day... We didn't go very far, it just seemed like we did.

We've dubbed it the day of never-ending travel, and really, we weren't going very far. That's the annoying part. It was literally a puddle jump across the Irish Sea, to land at Heathrow.

That's right, folks. Stop #3 is London, England!

And while the stop itself has been a lot of fun thus far, getting here was a challenge. Sitting in bed at the end of the day, it's hard to not feel like I'm moving. Seriously. Everything's wobbly wonky. Is that even a phrase?

The morning started with a breakfast that we'd forgotten to say we didn't want. Neither of us felt exceptionally great that morning, with weary feet and sleepy minds, and we had to get up earlier than usual to make sure we made it to our bus on time. Politely, we stayed to eat as much as we could before we booked it out the door.

Remember how on our last day in Dublin, we figured out how far we were going to have to walk to catch our bus? Yeah, now was the time we had to actually walk it, bags in tow. Talk about a walk and a half. The sidewalks and sloped in, so rainfall goes into the drainage areas, but that means it's really hard to push or pull a bag along them. Especially uphill. Not fun at all, let me tell you. By the time we reached the bus stop, we were pretty winded.

The bus didn't help things. By the time we got on, the others on the bus had already completely filled the luggage racks, and most of the seats on the lower level were already filled, which meant we had to stand and hold our luggage, while constantly preventing it from rolling around the cabin. On an hour-long bus ride. How fun does that sound?! It was about as enjoyable as you might think, and even worse because I had to stand backward. It felt like a roller coaster. Even at the end of the day, when I closed my eyes, I still felt it. The 747 bus to the airport is a great convenience, but my suggestion would be to rearrange other people's bags if there isn't room for yours, because standing like that is horrible.

Dublin Airport was another kettle of fish. That seemed an appropriate way of putting it. ;-) The airport itself is mildly confusing, but people at the information desks are very nice. Security in Dublin are the nicest security people I've ever met. When it's time to put your bags through the belt thingy, you get your own security guy. He asks you questions about what you have in your luggage so you know what you need to take off and what needs to come out of your bags, and makes sure you're good to go. Easy. Peasy. We got through in a hurry, and made it to the loudest gate in the area. I don't know what kind of construction they were doing above us, but we had to listen to it for more than an hour while we waited for our plane.

And then we reached the plane. Oh, the plane. You'd think once we got there, things would be easier. In a way, they were. Simpler, at least. All we did was sit there. For an extra hour and twenty minutes, while they changed the tire on the plane. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they went through the safety procedures and changed the tire. I am. But I'm not fond of sitting on a wiggly plane on the ground. I can manage turbulence in flight, but on the ground? No thank you. Our pilot was very nice though, as were the flight attendants. British Airways is great, in my opinion.

The funny thing, though, was that the flight itself was nice, but the takeoff and landing were turbulent. Like, the takeoff itself, and the landing itself. In that, the plane was wiggly in the five to ten seconds before we took off, and shaky on the landing. Other than that though, nice flight. Did you know Heathrow makes you get off the plane and get on a bus to go to the airport itself? Maybe that's only smaller planes, I don't know, but it was interesting. And I'd been hoping not to see a bus again for a while.

Now was time for us to learn a new skill: the London transportation system.

We're from New Mexico. If you want to go somewhere, you drive. Some people take the bus, but I'd never been on one aside from taking the shuttle from the University off-campus parking lot to the campus itself, and that's nothing at all like using the underground. Fortunately, people working there are so very polite and nice, and helped us get where we were going. And once again, we were moving. This time, on an overground train called Heathrow Connect, which took us to Paddington Station. If you fly into Heathrow, definitely check out the Connect train. It's less expensive than the Express. A little bit slower, but you get to see more on your way.

Fortunately, our next host's place is only about a block and a half from the station. Our feet greatly appreciated it. So a short walk later, we arrived.

Our hosts are Cypriots. I didn't know that was a word until the day we met them. They're from the island of Cyprus, and they're the sweetest couple you'll ever meet. They also won't stop talking once you get them going, but we enjoyed talking to them. The wife showed us all around the studio apartment we're renting from them, made sure we fully understood how everything worked and knew what to do if we needed to contact them, and we finally, blissfully, got to sit down. For about half an hour, before we went out again.

Hungry stomachs are demanding, you know?

So, as our first official act upon entering London, we went out for Indian food. When in London, eat Indian food. Sounds weird, I know, but do it. No lie. It's everywhere, and it's delicious.

Day two was much easier, and a lot more fun.

First thing in the morning, we went to Paddington Station and made our way to the Tower of London. Now, I should mention that there were some things we wanted to do that we'd set up while we were back in the States. This was one of them. So we already had ticket vouchers from home, printed and in my carryon bag. Yup, you guessed it: they remained there, while we made our way to the Tower. Oops.

We tried for about fifteen minutes, standing outside Tower Hill Station, to access the tickets via the Expedia app. Well, trouble was, Expedia's site was down, and all the app wanted to do was send us to the website. Sheesh. Not knowing what else to do, we went to the ticket counter with screenshots of the barcodes we needed to get in, hoping they would work.

The lady at the counter was very nice. She was. Despite the fact that she didn't really know what she needed from us. She told us we needed to send us our confirmation email. We did. Then when that didn't work, we sent her the screenshots we'd taken. She said she needed the confirmation email, but that she couldn't get to it through what I'd sent her. Well, she couldn't get to it because Expedia's site was down. *sigh*

Now, being from the States, I happen to know that the only three things you need to prove you have a voucher are as follows: a confirmation number, a ticket number, and a barcode. We'd sent her all three things, in the screenshots. She didn't think they would work, but she went to her supervisor for help. Since Expedia's site was down, they made allowances for us. Apparently they all thought they needed the whole thing. But, by the grace of God, they got it to work. All they needed was the barcode. And it was a good thing, because unbeknownst to us until that moment, the Tower was closing early that day. We should just about have enough time to see everything, and she recommended starting with the Crown Jewels.

We're glad we did as she suggested.

Coming from the States, we don't have anything like the Crown Jewels. Oh, we have some jewels, but none with the same significance. These mean something, they stand for something, and it's beautiful. The exhibit was one of the best parts of the Tower of London, aside from the White Tower itself, which is the primary thing to see, of course. The Tower itself holds so much history, even a mini chapel inside. It's so beautiful, to be so close to history, close enough to touch parts of it. If you're ever in London, and you haven't been to the Tower, you have to go. You have to watch so you don't have your camera on at the wrong time -- no pictures of the Crown Jewels, nor inside any of the chapels, and the warders don't like it if you try to flout the rules. But it's still a lot of fun, and quite enjoyable.

We just about finished looking around by the time the Tower was closing, and we made our way to Tower Bridge. Don't get this confused with London Bridge. That's a different bridge entirely, and it's really not very pretty. It's a bit basic and slightly boring. Tower Bridge is the cool one. I have pictures, don't worry. At this point it looks like they won't get posted until I get back stateside, but I'll try to post more to Instagram (@rani.divine) for you.

I hadn't realized just how windy it is by the Thames! Maybe I just hadn't really thought about it before, because now it really makes sense. Usually it's windy close to the water. So obviously it would be windy by the river. But sheesh! I don't like having to zip my jackets, because I'm from New Mexico and I don't usually have to, but I've had to keep zipped up most of the time since we've been here. Not used to it. Should've been prepared for it. Oops.

Mum and I slowly made our way across Tower Bridge, stopping for pictures of anything and everything along the way. The Shard. The Tower. The Bridge. The Thames. Literally everything. I have a zillion pictures.

On the other side, we realized we hadn't eaten anything yet... And it was 3:30. No bueno.

To remedy the situation, we walked along the Thames in search of somewhere to eat. Our plan was to go to Borough Market, a place I'd read about back in the States and really wanted to go to, but it looked like there were a lot of eateries along the way. We found one called Nicholson's, which we went to primarily because they served bubble and squeak, and we'd wanted to try it. One bubble and squeak and one cheddar, spinach, and potato pie, please. Delicious. People say that the food in London is bland and boring and that while you're on tour through Europe, London's food will be the worst. I disagree. Every place we've been to so far has been great, and Nicholson's is no exception. There are a few of them around the city. Go find one if you're ever here.
When we finished, we were finally on our way to Borough Market, a little later into the day than we'd hoped. The market was going to close at five, and it was shortly after four by the time we walked inside. Well, I guess it's not really inside, since it's an outdoor market...

Borough Market is a place where locals come to sell their wares. Street food, fruit stands, cheese makers, wineries, olive oils, teas, pastas, breads, cured meats, anything you could possibly want for a delicious charcuterie plate all in one place. So that's exactly what we made. We walked around and purchased a soft cheese and a firmer one, cured venison, ciabata, pears and apples, and crackers, along with some tea and a cup of orange mango juice. Then we worked on our mastery of the underground and made our way back to Paddington, where we realized that why didn't we get a bottle of wine?!  Obviously, we had to stop somewhere else and get some. Fortunately, there's a little shop on the street just around the corner from where we're staying. *whew!*

Charcuterie is delicious, homemade or otherwise. It was also dinner.

The next day started out a little slower, which was nice. We'd been on the go and moving so much that my feet had been a little displeased. They wanted to stop and sit. I wanted to move. We still disagree on this point. But Mum and I decided not to go out until midmorning, a couple hours later than we'd been going out.

Once again, we were off to Paddington Station. This time, on our way to Embankment Pier. And once again, we already had something scheduled for the day -- but not just yet. So we walked along the windy pier, trying to avoid getting hit by what we've dubbed "leaf shrapnel" flying through the air, and taking pictures along the way. We were right across the street from the London Eye. From the pictures, I honestly thought it would be bigger. I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't quite it. I didn't want to ride on it anyway, and thankfully neither did Mum. It's not our style, ferris wheels.

After a short while, it was time for our scheduled event: a Bateaux Lunch Cruise on the Thames.

Being that I've been trying to let you know what things I highly recommend doing, I must say that you have to do this. Especially if you're not going to be in London for a long time and you still want to get to see everything, go on a cruise. Doesn't matter if it's a lunch one like this or not, but I'll say that the lunch was AHH-mazing and the perfect amount (literally, I wasn't stuffed but pleasingly satisfied). Highly recommended. Highly.

When we were done, we walked on the other side of the Thames, toward Westminster Bridge. I honestly don't know how many pictures of Big Ben I took. It has to be a couple dozen. I mean, the bell tower is one of the most iconic images in all of London, but I may have gone a bit overboard. I think I got some good shots though! I'll try to get one up on Instagram soon (I'll have to transfer it from my camera to my phone first).

It's a strange feeling, walking past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, because I've seen all these places on TV so many times. So I know this place, and I feel like I've been here before because of how many times I've seen it, but I've never actually stepped foot here before. It's strange, but it's also a really cool feeling. It also helps in figuring out what direction you're going. See? Watching TV can be beneficial!

Once we'd made our way past Big Ben, we thought we'd go ahead and walk down to Buckingham Palace. The Queen wasn't as home, as per usual (thus no Union Jack flying above the Palace), but we took a bunch of pictures there too. I feel like that's the main thing we've been doing here: picture taking. Lots and lots of picture taking. It's great fun though, I'll tell you.

Okay, next comes the part that proves just how much I like Britain.

I really like the UK. Always have. It's a country that fascinates me, one that's near and dear to my heart and has been since I was a girl. I've always cherished London as a city close to me, though I've never been here before now, and I love the Queen. I can't even explain why, I just do. I love the Queen, and I love her family. I'm not one of those people who watches every little thing they do, but I think they're great people and I have deep respect for them. So when we went to the gift shop just outside Buckingham Palace and they had commemorative items for the Queen's ninetieth birthday, we had to get some. They're being shipped back home, and they'll be there a couple weeks after we get home. I couldn't not get something there, seriously. I found a little box with a commemorative statement and a quote from the Queen, and there were only 500 of it made! It's a collector's piece! I'm so stoked to get to hold it again, mine.

After a walk around the Palace that proved it's bigger than Mum thought it was, we went in search of food.

Covent Garden is so much fun. I almost wish we'd gotten there earlier in the day, but we may end up going back at some point. It's just so much fun! Street peformers all over the place, all sorts of shops, and a bunch of restaurants. Plus there was a market in the middle with vendors selling handmade art of all shapes and sizes. I could've bought more things, but I refained.

There was this one group of street performers, a string quartet whose name I don't remember because I'm in bed right now and don't want to get up, who were hilarious and really incredibly good at playing. We listened to them for a while, and eventually ended up buying the CD. Which we won't be able to listen to until we get home. Oh well. It'll be a fun piece of London to bring home with us! They really were great fun to watch.

By this time, we were hungry. We found a place called Balthazar, in the Covent Garden area, and sat at the bar. I do not remember what I had to drink, but it was fabulous. Followed by a sea bass ceviche and coq au vin. Again, thus far, we've not had bland food in London. I mean, it needed a smidge of salt, but that's not a big deal. That's common in the States, c'mon. The food was delicious, done and done. Most places post their menus outside, which helps. Look for something outside, and if you don't like it, move on. Move on.

We didn't get dessert, but we wanted something sweet. I know, sounds weird. But we'd wanted to get something that we could bring home with us, so we could have something sweet at the apartment in case we were having dinner somewhere and couldn't find a good dessert. Or something. So we figured we'd look for an underground station that would take us back to Paddington, and stop and a pattiserie or chocolate shop if we saw one along the way. We did.
Paul Depuis. I think the man inside was amused by us. We quickly picked out two tarts and asked for them to go, then looked to the side and picked out another. He suggested a fourth. We got that one two. Chocolate, frangipane, strawberry, and caramel.

So far, we've tried strawberry and caramel, and I can tell you, they're both scrumptious. (see? I can use words other than delicious to describe food!)

Day three in London was a special one for us. There was one day, back home in the States, when Mum and I were looking online for things we might want to do in London. We'd been looking at stuff for a while, and we thought we knew all of what we wanted to do while we were here (even knowing that it wouldn't all fit into the trip, of course), but then we came across something else.

Phantom of the Opera.

See, Mum had never seen anything in the theater before. Me, I've seen Wicked. Once. Well, and I've seen the Firebird, and the Addams Family. I'm not sure either of those count. But Phantom is one of me and Mum's favorite movies to watch together, and we'd talked many a time about going to see it, but hadn't gotten around to it. And it's playing here in London, and Her Majesty's Theatre.

Obviously, we had to go see it.

There was no question of it.

We were going to go see Phantom of the Opera, and I had the pleasure of treating. Yup. I got to take my mommy to see Phantom of the Opera, in freaking LONDON! How cool is that?

That being the case, we had to plan our day around it. We planned on going to a matinee, because we didn't really want to be out that late, and because it saves some money. But that meant we pretty much had to stay in the area most of the day. Fortunately, the area was a lot of fun.

Our morning started at Piccadilly Circus. We walked down one of the streets, looking at the Crimea statues among various others, along with various beautiful buildings that we never did figure out what they contained. Aside from a bitter cold wind, it was a lot of fun! Once again, pictures to come as soon as possible.

Then we looked on Google to figure out where we were, because we'd walked around so much that we weren't actually sure where we were. We weren't lost, because we knew approximately what direction the underground station was, but we had no idea what was near us. We ended up walking to the Ritz, to take a picture of it for a good friend of ours. You know who you are. <3

Trafalgar Square was next on the list.

I should explain something. Trafalgar Square was something that we literally had to go see. It wasn't something we could cross off the list, wasn't something that was at all negotiable. We were going to the Square at some point on this trip. Why? Because of our dog. Bear with me. You remember my doggy? I've posted pictures of him before. He's a big black dog, black lab blue heeler mix, and his name (you guessed it) is Nelson. After Admiral Lord Nelson, of the one and only Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. So we had to go take pictures of the Column, for the sake of our puppy dog. Maybe we should pick him up a doggy toy too, eh? Dad says he's a bit sad without us...

From there, we figured out where the theatre was and went a few blocks away to have some brunch. What with the matinee showing and all, it's best to eat before you go, eh?

We found a cute little cafe along the street, warm and cozy and away from the wind (whew!) and ducked inside for eggs benedict and a lemon tart (along with a coffee for Mum and mango juice for yours truly). All of it was quite yummy, but not quite good enough for me to remember what the place was called. You know how it is.

When we finished brunch, we still had over an hour before the musical was to begin, so we walked down the streets of Piccadilly and stumbled upon the statue of William Shakespeare. Woo! I have pictures of him too, don't worry. The streets were crowded though and the wind was still bitter cold, so we ended up making our way to the theatre early, picking up our tickets, and waiting inside away from the wind.

I'll tell you this: no matter how many times you've seen the movie, Phantom of the Opera is still wonderful in theatre. Seriously. I wondered if it would be weird, because I'm so used to the movie and the voices of the actors in it. But the musical here was just as good. Of course, parts were different because it's a stage performance and not a movie, but it just served to make it it's own beautiful thing. I would certainly go see it again, even at Her Majesty's Theatre. So. Freaking. Beautiful. I have the soundtrack from the movie on my phone, and I will be listening to it throughout the rest of the trip. No doubt. I could always used more Phantom of the Opera in my life. Yes.

In a sort of flurry of "oh my goodness we just saw Phantom in London," Mum and I then walked to an Italian restaurant I remembered seeing on one of our earlier walks, a little place called Prezzo. We got a triple pork pizza and an antipasto plate, both of which were fabulous. If you're in London and you want a quick pizza that's exceptionally yummy, go to Prezzo. It's near Piccadilly.

The end of our day was spent walking around the area and ducking into shops now and again, exploring to our hearts content.

I'm so at home.

[love]

{Rani Divine}