Tour de Paris

Thursday 20th

We got on a bus wed night to head to Paris. We stopped once at the French border to make sure we were legal. We stopped a couple hours in to board the ferry that would take us further into France. It was an overnight trip and little sleep occurred. We finally arrived at 6 am.
After finding the metro station, we stopped at our hostel to check in. We couldn't actually go into our rooms yet but for two euros we could place our things in a locker. Relieved from the extra weight we headed off to the Eiffel tower. We snapped pictures as we went being extremely touristy. There were so many nice parks and tree areas that looked beautiful. We followed the seine river all the way to the tower and were dwarfed by the iron giant. We snapped several pictures of ourselves in front of the tower and then raced to see where the line was. We realized we still had 45 mins until we could go up. So we walked around the green behind the Eiffel Tower and were bombarded with people selling miniature Eiffel Towers that Allie bought, and people with clipboards wanting us to sign and donate. We discovered later that these adamant clipboard-wielding do-gooders were actually gypsies. 

We finally got to get in line to have our bags checked and were relieved to be inside. It was so cold out that were sovereign shop-hopping in order to abuse their heating services. The high was only about forty. When we packed into the elevator, an employee informed us that we would not be able to go to the summit since the elevator was broken but that we could get a refund. Allie and I were bummed. We could still go up to the second floor (which was still high up) but not all the way to the mythic peak. After we were done on top the tower, it took us just as long to find the place to get our refund.

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. We walked a while to get there but on our way, we stopped for a crepe. I got Nutella and banana. It was so yummy! We continued on and finally saw the giant arc but were unsure of how to bridge the gap to get to it. If you've ever seen pictures of it, its surrounded by a circle of about five lanes of traffic that all radiate out in different directions into the city. During a tour that will be mentioned later, we were informed that this area of Paris is the only place that a motorist is not insured because of the high accident rates. We walked all along this crazy motorway looking for anywhere that was safe to cross. I offered to play chicken but Allie didn't seem to think it wise. After a time, we found a set of steps that looked like it led to the Metro but actually was a tunnel underneath the roads leading to the arc. How perfect. Once there, we got to see the Eternal Flame which were told was only put out once. First, an Australian drunkenly urinated on it; they deported him immediately. The other time was some Germans I believe that roasted a hotdog over it, squelching the flame. They were also not invited back. 

Enhancement Week

My Professor Trevor Norris

Enhancement week is a time that the students have off from classes at London Met in order to study, work on assignments, and attend special workshops and events scheduled by the university. It is meant to "enhance" your learning experience. Many kids just skip out and use it as vacation. But I didn't and here's what I did with my week.

Monday and Tuesday I had off. I was supposed to see a play on Tuesday, but due to some miscommunication I missed it. Wednesday was the only that I had a class because Theatre of London is an international class and not a British student class, it is governed by different rules. It was fun though because we ended up doing so improv activities after the lecture which was very amusing. This was the week that I had three different projects due; it's kind of like their midterms week when all projects are due. Which is why I hadn't had much to report lately since I've been working.

Our Totally Awesome Weekend Adventure Part 3 (Comicon)

October 25th

Maka from Soul Eater

Our day started by getting into our cosplays and then hurrying for the train that would take us to the convention. We had change stations on the DLR several times to get the one that would take us straight there. I knew we were in the right place too; there were several people dressed up as anime, comic book and video game characters. It was so much fun just watching everyone and trying to guess who they were dressed as. The train finally came and we all piled on, people staring at us funny as we took our places on the train. Quite a few kids pointed at the two of us exclaiming, "Look mommy its harry potter!" Clearly we were not but we were from the world and that was enough for us.

As we neared the station, the driver came on over the intercom, "Next stop Comic Con. If you are going to Comic Con get off at the next station." Eileen and I giggled since that was NOT the name of the next stop but he knew so many of us were going there. He then continued, "Please make sure that you have all your swords, axes and guns with you when you leave." The train roared with laughter. "But really guys, you all look amazing in your costumes; have a great time today at the convention." We all gave the man a round of applause and then exited the train even more excited then when we'd gotten on.

Our Totally Awesome Weekend Adventure Part 2 (Shakespeare edition)

October 24th

Eileen and I woke up early to catch a train to Stratford-upon-Avon, one of the places I want to see before I die. Walking around was astounding since a lot of buildings are as old, if not older, than Shakespeare's time, the 15th century. It took us a while to find our way around since we couldn't find any maps. While walking, we happened upon a little carnival taking place in the middle of one of the streets. It was so nice. They had lots of rides, games, and food, and let me tell you the food smelled so good! Fries, cotton candy, doughnuts, yum! But unfortunately, we kept walking since we were here for Shakespeare not cotton candy.

We finally found an intersection with signs posted that pointed in the directions of the attractions we wanted to go. Eileen was very excited and decided we should head to the RSC first. I agreed and we headed that way. It wasn't until I got there that I realized what we were seeing. The Royal Shakespeare Company. We hurried inside eagerly to see Shakespeare stuff. They had so many elaborate and detailed costumes from many of his shows like Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar and many more.

I think this was a Fairy Queen.

We continued walking around until we saw everything they had on display, which honestly wasn't as much as we were hoping for. So afterwards, we left and headed back the way and found a bunch of cute stores: Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, Magic Shop and this: