This is my 2nd trip to Europe. The first one, in which I took a cruise through parts of the Mediterranean (Rome, Olympia, Athens, Istanbul, Ephesus, and Cairo) was between October and November in the year 2000. If digital cameras existed back then, they must've been quite rare. This time, after almost sixteen years, I saved some money in order to pay for the trip by myself. Some of the best pictures ever had to come along with it of course.
All of my Spanish co-workers and friends will forgive me for not visiting Spain when I get to go there, hopefully in two years. The fact that many friends, family members, or other contacts have been posting pictures from Europe have made me want to go there too. The Eiffel Tower might be the most famous attraction in Europe, and I've been willing to go there since I went to Rome. Non-stop flights from Dallas to Paris were a little less expensive than the ones that flew to London, so I decided that Paris would be the first destination.
I flew from Midland to Dallas, then Dallas to Paris. I could barely sleep during the flight, mainly due to the excitement. All of the pictures shown so far, as well as the next ones were on June 10:
I ate on a restaurant on the Eiffel Tower after going to the top, then walked along the Seine for a while. Early that evening I went on a tour that took you on a small boat through parts of the Seine and up to the Eiffel Tower at night. I thought it would be worth seeing the city at night as well. The last picture I took right before I went back to the hotel is the first one shown here.
After being awake most of the time for about 40 hours I decided not to wake up the next day until my body asked me to do so. I woke up at around 11:00 AM (on June 11) and started my own tour in the Louvre at around 1:00 PM. In about 5 hours I was able to walk all around the museum and take all the pictures that I wanted, including these:
Right after that I took a bike taxi to Notre Dame. The taxi person was a pretty French girl that was unlike most French people. She was very nice and even told me to watch out for pocket pickers:
I went again to Notre Dame the next day, Sunday, June 12 as I wanted to go to mass, then went up the stairs to the top:
After walking for a few blocks, hidden almost like the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in London you can find the Saint Chapelle, a former Catholic chapel famous for its stained glasses:
It was raining, so instead of walking I took a taxi to the Palais Garnier. The reason why I wanted to go there was because that is where the story of "The Phantom of the Opera" took place:
It was now time to walk to the Arc de Triomphe. As it started raining right before I got to the Champs-Élysées, I decided to check the stores and mini malls throughout the street:
June 13 was the fourth day, and the blisters I got with my new tennis shoes on the 2nd day were not visibly healing, so it was time to use the metro, which is what I did every day in Paris and London for the rest of the trip. I went to Montmatre to see the Sacré-Cœur Basilica:
and La Défense business district:
After walking down to the Arc de Triomphe, I decided to finish my way back to the hotel using the metro, but not before stopping at a grocery store to get fresh mozzarella and olives to take for dinner later. Vacuum packed ears of corn on the cob are almost as good as the ones sold at Walmart in the US. I was fixing to go to the Palace of Versailles on June 14, the fifth day, but as soon as I was about to take the metro that took you there some Americans were saying that it was closed due to strikes. It was too late to go to Disneyland, so I walked out of the station to the Musée d'Orsay:
Thanks to a WhatsApp message that my mom sent me the day before, after a brief walk through the Touleries gardens and La Concorde, I went to see the chapel of the Miraculous Medal, where St. Catherine Labouré's body has lain incorrupt since 1933. Even though she died in 1876, people where not aware of this until she was exhumed in 1933:
As soon as I walked out of the chapel, I saw what seemed to be a luxury market. I figured it was actually the most beautiful grocery store that I've ever walked to, which was surprisingly reasonably priced by Paris standards:
It was connected to a four or five story department store. The entrance to The Miraculous Medal chapel is seen underneath the arch on the left:
The Montparnasse Tower is not the best looking skyscraper, but it does have the best views of Paris:
On June 15, I made sure the Palace of Versailles was open before leaving, luckily it was.
Beautiful mazelike gardens separate the palace from the Petit Trianon, the Palace of Marie-Antoniette.
It was also the first day that I saw blue skies in Paris, so I took advantage of this to get the best daytime pictures of the Eiffel Tower as well as the building where Napoleon's tomb is (on my way back to the hotel):
I had planned a day to go to Disneyland Paris on June 16 if I was done with all the must sees in Paris. As I did, I went there:
I had booked a train to Nevers to See St. Bernardette, the lady who saw our Lady of Lourdes, as her body has been incorrupt since 1879, even though no one knew about this until 1909 when she was exhumed. There was only one train in the morning and one in the evening, so I had about 7 hours to walk around. Confusing signs led me to a town right next to Nevers called Marzy. I was looking for a McDonald's as I saw no other restaurants nearby. Obviously, there are no Whataburgers in France. I realized that most people don't speak English or Spanish outside Paris.
Pictures were forbidden inside St. Gildard's chapel, where Bernardette's body lies, but a nun allowed me to take pictures without flash.
London is somewhat near Paris, and through the movie: "102 Dalmatians" I found out about the train that goes between Paris and London. It travels under the English Channel. I thought about doing that too while I visited the city where the Big Ben is. What is still the UK is the land where Coldplay, The Beatles, Adele, Rod Stewart, Oasis, George Ezra, Herman's Hermits, Calvin Harris, Dido, Ellie Goulding, Elton John, Franz Ferdinand, George Michael, Human League, James Blunt, Josh Stone, John Newman, Bastille, Kaiser Chiefs, Keane, KT Tunstall, Madness, Mika, Pet Shop Boys, Phil Collins, Queen, Rixton, Robbie Williams, Sophie Elis Bextor, Supertramp, The Verve, The Wanted, C.S. Lewis, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.K. Rowling, and so many other great musicians, singers, groups, and authors have either lived or live. After doing some research, I realized that I would have some time to spare in London, so I decided to go to Edinburgh for two nights first. The train from Paris stops at St. Pancras (the orange building on the right), and right next to it you'll see King's Cross(on the left), where you take the trains that'll take you almost anywhere in Great Britain:
Inside King's Cross station I could smell something delicious that made me feel at home, but I did not have time to investigate at that time, as I needed to catch a train to go to Edinburgh. Edinburgh was unusually sunny. Even though all of the attractions were closed, I had time to look around and to get to know where to go the next day:
I'm glad I did, as the next day was cloudy, and after a morning mass it started to rain. I visited the Camera Obscura, the Edinburgh castle, and a kilt factory:
This is the café where J.K. Rowling used to go to write Harry Potter when she was still not famous. I did not feel like eating there at that time:
Edinburgh is a nice place to walk around, no matter the weather:
As soon as I got to London I visited The Shard, the tallest building in western Europe:
All other attractions nearby were closed, but I got a pass to go back at night. Unfortunately, tripods were forbidden so I could not get nice pictures. Right before 11:00 PM, it was not dark enough to see the city at night, but after going back down, I took some of the best night pictures of London:
June 21st: I was told to see the change of guard at Buckingham Palace, which I did. After seeing that it was not such a great spectacle, I decided to leave after about ten minutes.
I visited Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, China Town, and Little Italy. I even had time to watch "The Phantom of the Opera" in Her Majesty's Theatre (or the Queen's theater).
I know that this has nothing to do with traveling but I'm totally against monarchies, especially when the Royal family does nothing that is actually good for the people, even if the people think they do. Unlike raising money for charity and/or working on charitable activities, attending engagements and diplomatic events might not help the UK overall. Being head of a church whose founder left the Catholic Church to create his own while forcing a whole country to convert to his new religion and forbidding other religions is not right. Being head of government and the parliament (without intervening on things like abortion and same-sex marriage), being head of justices in England and Wales, (by God's will?) does no good. Having authority just by inheritance does not help the people in general. The truth is that the Queen did not choose to be born like that so I don't blame her, but if the Anglican religion shares most of the beliefs as the Catholic Church, she could've stopped those liberal policies allowing abortion and same-sex marriage. I'll respect your opinion if you disagree with me, but we'll probably agree on the fact that Christian churches are naturally socially conservative. I think that most people would still prefer to live in a first world monarchy than in a third world democracy. As much as I dislike the fact that there are monarchs, I liked England even more, and I do thank the English for giving us a universal language:
Sold out until May 2017: no thanks!
June 22nd was the third day in London. I visited Baker Street, Abbey RD, the British Museum, as well as the Tower of London. The latter one was the only museum in London that was not free.
I ended the day eating the most delicious burger in Britain. I went to Harrods, which was just across the street.
These pictures were taken near the hotel where I stayed:
June 23rd: This was the day Britain decided to leave the European Union. I took a tour to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. Windsor Castle has the most beautiful rooms I've seen in my life, but photography was forbidden, just as it was on the Edinburgh Castle and the Tower of London where the royal jewels were kept. I believe that this is unfair. These are the pictures that I was able to get on the outside:
Bath is a town whose thermal spring water supposedly has healing properties:
Filtered water has a horrible aftertaste so I tried some local organic ice cream:
This seemed to be a small city whose main attraction was not as nice as its surroundings:
Stonehenge:
June 24: This was a sort of free day, as I intended to visit Leavesden Studios, but the tour company that drove you there only had late afternoon tours, so I had most of the day to spare. I started with St. Paul's Cathedral. After going up over 500 stair steps you'll get the best views in London.
This was the only place I could get away taking pictures where it was forbidden. I thought that paying 18 pounds without being able to take pictures inside was not fair, but most importantly, no one and nothing got hurt.
I decided to take a picture of platform 9 and 3/4 on King's Cross as well as the Harry Potter store. I'm no fan of costumes, or buying wands, but I believe that these might be the best fiction novels ever written. After about an hour of waiting in line, I was given 5 seconds to take this picture:
One of Rowling's mistakes was that she either forgot or failed to see that there is no wall between platforms 9 and 10.
I discovered the source of that smell that reminded me of Christmas food:
As skies were blue, I was able to get some nice pictures of St. Pancras, which is also seen on the 2nd Harry Potter movie.
As there was still plenty of time to spare, I decided to walk to the station where the bus would pick me up to go to Leavesden instead of using the metro.
I thank God for accidentally finding Regent's Park:
and Queen Mary's Gardens inside that park:
These flowers actually had a blue to dark blue color. I'd never seen that color in nature. If this color is not affected by pH, maybe it can be used as a food color for those who don't want any artificial colors in their food (like if all natural things were good and all artificial things were bad):
I believe that getting a tour that includes transportation to Leavesden Studios is the cheapest way to get there, and this is part of what I saw:
If you get to go to Leavesden, you should try butterbeer. I saw that both adults and kids liked it.
June 25th was the last full day in London, so I decided to visit the Natural History and Science museums. Maybe I'm not a museum person, maybe the museums in New York and the Louvre have raised my expectations for museums, but I expected more. There were some things I liked, including the fact that they were both free:
After mass (which I preferred not to hear in French the next day) I had a few hours to spare, so I went to Camden Town:
I may have been there for 5 or 10 minutes, as the place was full of people that dressed in a particular way that made me feel like a misfit. I will not describe how they looked as I do not want to offend anyone, but I can say that this has nothing to do with ethnicity or race. It did not seem to be the safest place in town, so I went to Ripley's Believe it or not:
On June 26 I took the train to Paris. The sky was blue so I decided to take better pictures of the Arc de Triomphe:
I walked around the Champs-Élysées waiting to take some more pictures at night:
I was too tired to wait until it got completely dark. Finally, I had to take a picture of the Moulin Rouge at night.
This was the longest and by far, the best trip in many ways. The only person who could've made it better is you. I hope to see you next time.
