from pisa to paris to london and back

SPRING BREAK! kadie, alex, emily, and i (all conn students) went to Paris for 6 nights. saturday morning we took a train to pisa, spent half a day walking around and attempting to photograph ourselves with the leaning tower, and then caught our plain to Paris, landing us in Beauvais around 10pm. after a one hour shuttle bus into paris, we managed to find our way to the champs-elysees to find the marriott. that night we stayed out almost til morning in Marais at this little irish pub. while in paris i ate 2 crepes a day, banana and nutella was my favorite by far. we spent hours in the louvre (home of the mona lisa), the pompidou (amazing modern art), and musee d'orsay (degas and monet!). we climbed to the top of sacre coeur, which had one of the most amazing views i've ever witnessed (next to the top of florence and the eiffel tower). we had the privilege of staying at the marriott champs-elysees, which was mind blowingly beautiful. we were definitely the youngest and poorest ones in that hotel. it seemed like everyone was there on business or some sort of international royalty. a perk of the trip was sleeping in the king size bed, working out in the gym, relaxing in the sauna, and helping ourselves to free coffee and beverages.

all in all, favorite things about paris:

-crepes

-montmarte and the stuffed red peppers

-free champagne from our waiter

-louvre and pompidou

-eiffel tower at night

least favorite things about paris:

-being followed/creeped on by MANY drunk french men

-lack of a night life

-the freezing cold weather (granted, we were under dressed)

-the metro system (really easy to navigate, but our tickets never worked)

i had 1 major travel crisis en route to london. i left for my flight at 6am, catching the metro to the regional line that would take me to charles de gaulle airport. i get 30 minutes into my trip, and realize that i had left my passport in the safe in our hotel room. i had to turn around and head back to the marriott. by the time i retrieved my passport it was already 7am, and the gate for my flight was to close at 8:30. balls. so i was forced to take a taxi to the airport, which ended up costing me 40 euro, but it got me there in about 20 minutes, leaving me plenty of time to check in and wait in the terminal.

i arrived in london around 9 am (they're an hour behind italy) and spent the whole day killing time until chelsea got out of her internship around 4:30pm. i spent hours upon hours in different starbucks at various train stations. i think i got through at least 200 pages of one of my books, plus an issue of cosmopolitan. and wrote 5 postcards. since i didn't have minutes left on my phone, i was freaking out that chelsea hadn't called me yet and it was nearing 4:30. so i'm wandering aimlessly around south kensington, when bam, walking straight towards me is ms. chelsea rathbun. what an amazing coincidence.

chelsea lives in the most amazing section of london. right across from the natural history museum, and apparently orlando bloom has a flat around the corner from her, and prince william has been spotted at a nearby bar. that night we went out to a noodle bar called Wagamama, i can't tell you how nice it is to take a break from pasta. afterwards we hit up this bar at a nearby university, Imperial. i snuck in telling them that i had lost my I.D. but had been there the other night (all BU kids are able to get in with their IDS). the drinks were cheap, the music was strange, but it ended up being a hilarious night. and we met a bunch of guys from new zealand.

saturday was beyond incredible. i went with chelsea kelsey and deepan to borough and camden markets (sorry chels if i butchered those names). we got to sample free cheese and breads, and i bought a pasty, then some sangria, then wild boar sausage, then mulled wine. so ridiculous. heading over to camden, it's like punk goth central. every kid walking around has a mohawk and piercings. there are tons of outdoor vendors selling clothing and jewelery. i ended up buying three dresses for 27 pounds (roughly $40), pretty decent bargain. we went to happy hour at 5pm at this bar called be@one. then went back to chelseas dorm to make MACARONI AND CHEESE and get ready to go out that night. we went to this arts club called Nottinghill. the DJ that night was this 80 (yes, 80) year old man who played a lot of reggae. he was this tiny little white british man, but he spoke with a jamaican accent. ridiculous.

sunday morning heading to the airport with chelsea, i wanted to cry. london is such an amazing city, if i could go back right now i would. the people there are great. they're like americans, but have cooler accents and drink more.

this weekend, plans are up in the air. i may go back to florence again. the weekend after that though we are taking a 3 day weekend in naples as a school trip, and for easter weekend we're doing a 3 day trip to le cinque terre, 5 gorgeous towns all up on cliffs where apparently we can do a lot of hiking and maybe even jump off the cliffs into the water!

ciao for now.