Old vs. New

My very favorite spot in Edinburgh is called Calton Hill. From this hill you can see all of Edinburgh, both the old town and the new town. I liked to sit right in the middle of the two. Then you get the perfect view of both. 

This is my favorite structure on top of Calton Hill. 

Old Town 

vs.

 New Town 

And at night... 

Old Town 

vs. 

 New Town 

Why can't we have views like these in Utah? 

Oh Ya.

We sorta kinda saw the Queen of England. 

She's the one in the back seat. We saw a bunch of people up the street from our hotel in Scotland gathered around a church and went to see what was going on. All of a sudden the Queen of England walks out of the church decked in old fashioned robes for some royal event. She waved as she went past in her car but we didn't get a very good view. So what else could we do but stalk her? We found out when she was leaving her castle and waited. This time we got real close. She waved at me :)

Surrounded By Castles

Oh Edinburgh. Scotland has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. There is no where else in the world like it. Even now that I am in Ireland, it's still different. Edinburgh has a stormy atmosphere, even when it's sunny it still feels stormy for some reason. It's a cozy little town. And the Scottish people welcome visitors with friendly smiles and no filters. 

The first day we got there I took an evening walk in the Prince's Gardens which was right close to our hotel. As I was staring, mesmerized at this structure above me a little old Scottish man remarked to me on its largeness. I agreed with him and intended to continue on my journey alone, but unlike most Americans I know the Scottish man kept up a conversation. He talked to me about my travels and life. He was hard to understand at times A) because he was old and slurred his words a bit and B) because he was Scottish. It's still the same language... but is it really? When I finally headed off in the other direction after a friendly chat the old man surprised me by giving me a hug and complimenting me on how warm and friendly I was. Never have I met a sweeter stranger in my life. That was my first impression of Scottish people and it continued to go up from there. 

The first day we went to Old Town and walked the Royal Mile. The streets looked like the picture above, with cute little colored shops filled with everything plaid and plenty of embarrassing kilts I considered buying for my brother. 

I found this old record shop on one of the streets and after promising myself for the thousandth time I would buy a record player, I bought my favorite Bob Marley album. Before you go thinking I am a total hippie, my dad served his mission in Jamaica and I grew up listening to good old Bob. He's my cure for when the occasional crappy day strikes. 

I also bought a Claddagh ring. Yes, I'm that cheesy. 

This is the infamous "Castle" of Edinburgh, although we were basically surrounded by castles so I don't know why this is the only one that is good enough to get the name. Probably because it's by far the oldest. 

The street performers were half the fun. Unlike most of the big cities I've been to where the street acts are highly disappointing, Edinburgh had some real talent. Bagpipe-blowing aside, there were some great guitarists and amazing singers. But this guy winked at me, so he gets to make it on the blog. 

Here is a back view of the castle walking through Prince's Gardens. 

Also we stumbled upon this mini-mountain (I've been away from Utah long enough to where I consider hills as mountains, yes) and decided to climb it the next day for a view over the city. We were out of breathe by the time we hit the top. It's steeper than it looks. 

Here is the view from the top. We got a complete view of "the castle" and of all of Old Town, Edinburgh. One of the prettiest views I have ever seen. 

Oh, and I saw the Sherlock statue. Sooo... famous by association? 

Leaving London With a Bang

On our last night in London we went to see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's theater. Although our seats weren't really... high-class... I could see alright if I just bent forward with my elbows on my knees. (We are poor college students, what do you expect?) It was totally worth the back-ache I had afterwards because it was probably the most incredible show I have ever seen (or mostly just heard). I saw Phantom in Vegas once too but it was nothing compared to this. The music seemed to literally go through you. I couldn't have asked for a better way to say goodbye to London. We got to see the city at night and get all dressed up. And mostly we got to fall in love with the Phantom. 

Notting Hill

THIS is my favorite place in London. If you've seen the movie "Notting Hill" with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts you know it's a little town in London near Kensington. So we thought we would check it out to see if it was like the movie. Well it was better. The apartments were all extremely nice and colorful like the picture above and Portobello Road was lined with little cafes and adorable boutiques and thrift shops. Let's just say my wallet took a hit here. And again. When we went back the next day. And then we couldn't help but go watch the movie that night. If only Hugh Grant actually lived there. Life would have been complete. 

This store gives all their money to fund cancer-research. Even more of a reason to shop :) 

The Dungeons

My family has always been obsessed with scary stuff. And no we are not crazy animal-sacrificers or Satan-worshipers. We simply like to be scared. We grew up with my grandma telling us scary stories at sleepovers and having scary movie nights at my Aunt Kerri's house. These are some of my favorite memories. And we all still enjoy haunted houses and get giddy over the latest scary movies coming to theaters. So when I discovered that the London Dungeons tour was not just an ordinary historical tour, I was in heaven. Instead of just telling about the history of the dungeons in London, they took us through an underground set made up to look (and smell) like a torture chamber. Then they would tell the stories of Jack the Ripper and Henry VIII's torture methods by acting it out. The lights went off multiple times and more than once I jumped because of someone popping around the corner. It was more like a historical haunted house than anything else. And I was obsessed. Probably one of my favorite things we did in London. My roommate Jill on the other hand hates anything scary with a passion and had just as miserable a time as I had an enjoyable time. But she put on a brave face... probably since we paid 20 pounds to get in and didn't want to let that go to waste. I just kept thinking how my family would love it.

The Only One.

Since I came to Europe I have not drunk any soda. Want to know why? ... It's because Europeans don't believe in Dr. Pepper!!! I am not sure what they see in Coca-cola, but I am not buying it. There was absolutely no DP in Italy, and I assumed I would be soda-less for the duration of my 9-week trip. But then... Jill's cousin Elise gave us a ray of shining hope in the form of this soda machine. The only one she could find in all of London. There, in that greasy little Burger King it felt like we had won the lottery. I don't think my Dr. Pepper has ever tasted so good in my life. I don't normally drink a lot of it, but when I am occasionally at a restaurant or need an energy boost this is my go-to drink. I've missed you DP. Cheers. 

Haven't Thrown Away the Key Quite Yet

There is a tradition in Paris for sweethearts to go to the "Love Lock Bridge" on the Seine River and put a lock on the bridge together, adding to the millions of other locks. They then throw their key into the river, symbolizing the permanence of their love. Well, since I went to this bridge with my roommate Jill... and she's not exactly my lover... we thought we would still do something cheesy that would involve our future husbands. We each put our own lock on the bridge, but instead of throwing our keys into the river we are going to keep them. Then when we find that special someone we will "give them the key to our heart" as it were and hopefully return to throw the key in together as husband and wife. Mostly I just want to use this as an excuse to persuade my future husband to take me back to Paris someday and since it's tradition he can't refuse, right? ... Right? 

Ummm. Paris. Wow.

Paris was nothing less than an adventure. Jill and I thought we had everything planned out pretty well. We had our bus and plane tickets, and knew which metro to take to our hotel once we got in the city. But I am learning that Europeans like to go on strike. Especially with public transportation. And it usually happens right when I need to use that particular public transportation. Our flight ended up being delayed by two hours and since it was already a pretty late flight we didn't get in to Paris until midnight. Much to our horror, there were also no ATMs in the airport and our bus was leaving in 5 minutes. The machine for tickets didn't take our cards. By some miracle Jill found a 20 euro bill in her wallet hidden among all the British pounds. We barely made it onto the bus and were on our way to the metro stop. We only then realized that the metro had stopped running at that point because it was already 12:30. Yep... we began to discuss walking to our hotel. Luckily a nice Canadian guy we met on the bus helped us get off and find an ATM and then grab a taxi. I swear I meet nice Canadians everywhere I go. The taxi driver spoke absolutely no English but we managed to finally make it to our crappy Hotel on some back street in Paris. Our hotel manager also spoke no English so after a lot of miming we got our key and went to our room, exhausted. After 10 minutes we figured out how to actually open the door and fell asleep after saying a prayer of gratitude that two inexperienced American girls managed to navigate our way through this strange country. We woke up at 11.

Up until this point we weren't really loving Paris. It's amazing what a difference it makes to not be able to understand anything anybody is saying. At least in Italy I knew enough to get by. France was a whole different story. But once we got a hang of it, I loved Paris like I've loved every other place I've been so far in Europe.

The main thing I noticed about Paris was how quiet it was. Especially considering it's a city. But it was! Even the language seems to be whispered. I understand now why people say it's the most romantic city in the world. I loved this view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The buildings are all literally cream or white. It was stunning. 

We also went and saw Notre Dame. It was one of the prettiest buildings I have ever seen. The architecture is so intricate and detailed. I couldn't help but fall in love with it. We didn't want to pay to go inside... but someday. 

We also didn't want to pay to go inside the Louvre. Before you gasp at how I went all the way to Paris and didn't see the Mona Lisa let me tell you this: I am most definitely not a museum person. I saw more than my fair share in Italy and I did appreciate a few key pieces like Michelangelo's "Davide" and all of Bernini's sculptures, but I heard the Mona Lisa is small and hidden behind a huge glass box so you can't even get near it. Plus the museum is HUGE. And we were only in Paris for two days. But I did get the famous picture, as you can see! It only took us 20 minutes to get my hand in exactly the right spot. 

The streets of Paris were beautiful in themselves. They looked like this mostly and the street right by the Seine River was lined with old books and pictures. Jill and I walked these streets a lot... mostly because we were looking for somewhere reasonably priced food to eat and couldn't find a single thing. But the dessert more than made up for this downfall. 

This is just a taste (punny am I not?) of the desserts we had in Paris. Mostly because we only ate dessert and bread since everything else was outrageously priced. Macaroons are now one of my most favorite things in the world. But you can't find them in the U.S. like this. They are so rich that one is all you need. And the eclairs... don't get me started. My sweet tooth liked Paris, I'll tell ya that.