My European experience...

Hey, hey, hey... Currently, I am 10 days into my 14 day European vacation and I must say that I am enjoying myself for the most part. Let me start with my trip to Paris... I spent 5 days in the Captial and largest city in France. The weather was gorgeous and my experience was interesting...  My hotel was situated in the bustling area of the Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter) of Paris which is on the south shore of the Seine River and is known for the cobblestone streets, shops and cafés of St-Germain-des-Près. We were close to EVERYTHING!!! So, if you go... it's not a bad area to try to book your hotel. I'm going to give you my positives and negatives of Paris and again, all of my blogs consist of MY opinion and MY opinion only! Let's start with the positives... On a good note, Paris is FULL of wonderful historical attractions! Here is a list of a few that I got to view and enjoy... (I will be modifying this blog to include photos and commentary on all attractions once I am able to upload all of my photos.)

• The Cathedral of Notre Dame - Gorgeous!
• Louvre Museum - A MUST See!
• Eiffel Tower - Beautiful at night
• Arc de Triomphe - Awesome structure! Smack dab in the middle of the busiest roundabout
• Sacré-Coeur Basilica - Stunning views! A bit hectic to get to and has the most stairs of all the attractions.
• The  Panthéon - Beautiful!
• The Seine - You can see everything by just walking along the river.
• The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - Across from the Lourve, beautiful at sunset.

Let me forewarn you by letting you know that Paris is a walking city! The Metro is easily accessible and not hard to manage however, the museums themselves are HUGE! You will definitely get your exercise in if you plan on taking part of climbing to the top of these monuments and checking out the view of Paris! It was great to see the Mona Lisa (up close and personal), some of the finest artwork in the world and to be able to eat fresh bread everyday, all day! Oh yeah... The Parisians LOVE bread! So, if your on a carb diet... FORGET ABOUT IT! Croissants, Baguettes, Crepes, Danishes, bread, bread, bread...

OK.. Enough of the nice stuff, let's move onto what I found to be the negatives! Paris may be full of historical monuments and great museums, however they don't tell you about all of the rubbish littering the streets and sidewalks, all of the rude Parisians (whom are only pleasant if you speak or attempt to speak french!), the food is alright and the traffic is CRAZY! Hm mm, how can I put this? I don't like it!!!!! ! In my mind, Paris was supposed to be this beautiful city, full of romance, great food and spectacular views. If you ever been to Manhattan in NYC, you got Paris! Everyone is damn near on top of one another... All the cafes, bistro, restaurant and metro seating are all narrow and very close to the next person. So, if you like your personal space... NOT GONNA HAPPEN! lol.

Everyone smokes as well... You will be seating next to a family of 4, Mum, Pop and two kids and the adults are smoking away as their chatting it up with the kids sitting right across from them. There is no such thing as a non smoking facility (at least that's how I felt), I quit smoking almost 2 years ago so I was mortified! Temptation EVERYWHERE, however it was so overwhelming that I actually got sick of all the smoke! Your also able to drink in public, so you have people with wine bottles, beer, or a cocktail walking the street drinking and smoking. There are rubbish bins all over the city but I was so surprised by all the bottles and trash scattered around. If you like fast paced, busy city streets and millions of people, Paris is for you!

My next journey has taken me to the United Kingdom... Central London to be exact! I am in the middle of everything and convieniently located across from Victoria station. I am in London for 9 days and staying at the Hesperia London Victoria. This hotel is decent and offers daily, hot buffet breakfast which is a huge perk! Foods not bad either and the staff is friendly. OK... Let me start by saying I LOVE LONDON but I DISLIKE THE WEATHER! It's the end of August and the high is 70 degrees on a good day! It rains often but not for long periods. People are more friendly than Paris and they speak English (Thank Goodness!) Some britians accents are very heavy so you might not understand everything that they say but you get the drift!

London is full of shops, pubs, restaurants, mueums and theaters! The city is bustling with taxis and double decker buses. One thing I love about London is that, it is a busy city however, it's a little less fast paced as most major cities. No one seems to be in a huge rush... The only difficultly is the roads and how everyone drives on the opposite side of the street than in the US. Crossing the street can present a problem if your not looking in the right direction, however, London city streets are conveniently marked "Look Left" or "Look Right" at every crosswalk. It's like crossing streets for dummies! LOL
 

I am in day 5 of my London vacation and have had the pleasure of seeing Big Ben and Parliment, Westminister Abby, Picadilly Circus, Camden town, London Eye and Southbank Centre. I have yet to go to Buckingham Palace or The Tower of London but I have time. London is a place that is full of musicals and theatrics. One downfall of London is that they charge you for EVERYTHING! You can barely get a glass of tap water for free! Our money is worth crap here as well... If you exchange $100 US dollars you will get approximately £61 in British Pounds (a $39 dollar loss!). Everything here is expenisive too... A bus ride cost £2.20 GBP for a one way ride! and the tube (train) cost about £4.00 GBP each way! Look at it this way... For every £1.00 that is $1.64 US dollars which means it's $6.55 for a train ride ONE WAY and $3.60 for a bus ride ONE WAY! Crazy huh?!?

I'm going to end my story at this point and pick it back up later on into my trip... It's hard to focus on having a great vacation when the East Coast is being hit with hurricane Irene and my family and friends are all hoping for the best. I pray for everyone over there and am consistly reading the news for updates. It's difficult not having access to call and check up on everyone. Wishing you all the best!

Until next time...