London, Paris, & Amsterdam-Oh My! Part 1

            Hi everyone! I hope that April has been going well for you

so far. The semester is almost over which is great, but the other side of that is that it means final papers, projects, and exams. This past spring break I went on a trip, and by the title of this post you know that I went to Europe. The trip was actually organized by one of the professors at my school and we used EF Tours (which stands for Education First). It was a ten day trip and we packed a lot into it!  We started early every morning and visited multiple sights and areas each day. It is a great way to explore a new place and especially if you haven't traveled much before. Going through a tour company means that everything is already booked and planned out. You have guides on different days and we had our own coach bus to bring us to certain places along with our tour director who stayed with us throughout the whole trip.

( I am also going to include some pictures from my first trip to Europe since I took pictures of some things the first time I saw them and not the second)

           We left the U.S. and first went to London. After we arrived at Heathrow our coach picked us up and we went straight to Windsor Castle. We had a tour and then some free time to explore the rest of the castle grounds and a bit of the town. I love visiting castles and other historic places and sometimes it is hard to fathom just how long something has been standing and all of the things that have taken place there throughout the years. I also always find myself thinking about all of the people that have been here before me, who have seen what I am seeing, and the people that will be coming to visit in the future. For instance, I walked where people who lived over a hundred years ago did and where royalty did, it's kind of crazy to think about.

I had been to Windsor Castle before but enjoyed it just as much the second time. I also find the town very quaint. My friends and I walked around and got a bite to eat.

We weren't able to walk around this inner courtyard but I guess that's how they keep the grass so nice ;)

There is a very cool garden  down where the moat was

We got back on the coach

Here is a shot of a walkway in the town outside of the castle

          We headed into London and kept busy and did many of the

From my first time there, my mom caught me at a great moment right, lol

touristy things such as seeing St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The London Eye ( I went on it my first time in London, not this time, I also went on a London Duck Tour on the Thames my first time there). We saw Trafalgar Square and Oxford Circus. We had wanted to go to Camden Market but didn't have time. Our other touristy things included scoping out gift shops and buying lots and lots of chocolate! We were even questioned by a group member why we were so obsessed with chocolate, umm excuse me how is that even a question? Chocoholics for the win!

St. Paul's

We saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament, 

Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. We had a tour guide who brought us around the city and to the changing of the guard. Since it is a popular event and the guide wanted everyone in our group to stay together he wanted to hold something up. My friends and I were at the front of the group and the guide knew our names since  he asked most of the group trivia questions (and kind of made us feel dumb when we were put on the spot but anyways) he asked if I had an umbrella. When I said I did not he questioned what I was carrying in my bag since to him it seemed big. Meanwhile he had on a backpack but yet did not think that it was too big of a bag to not have an umbrella in. He ended up tying his scarf to the end of someone's selfie stick to lead us around. We were all settled in our spots and watching the changing happen when here comes the selfie scarf and we had to move to another spot with no explanation which was not fun, once we got there though we were told that it was a better view so it ended up working out although at first we thought we were missing stuff by having to stop watching and move. 

My sister and I at Buckingham Palace during my first trip to London

            An excursion to the Warner Brother 
Studios to see everything Harry Potter was also part of the trip. Sadly both times I visited it we were on a very tight schedule and had only about an hour to explore. This is definitely not even close to enough time. Because I had been there before I was able to tell my friends that we had to move quickly through it so we'd be able to see almost everything at least a little. (Not everyone in our group though knew this and when we were all at the bus waiting for the last stragglers we found out that they were only about halfway through. And they did not even know that, they thought they were close to the end!)

  There were some new additions since the first time I was there which was nice, including Platform 9 3/4s and the Hogwarts Express. 
     

We also did a little day trip to Bath and Stonehenge (which I had also visited the first time in England). I was thrilled to be going back to Bath because it is such a quaint and beautiful town. I love exploring old towns and such. And this time I was able to get closer to Stonehenge than the previous time (they had been doing construction on the new visitor center). It is a place that gives off such a mystical feeling. I also loved learning more of the history of the area and the people that lived around there so many, many years ago. It is a must see World Heritage Site and Wonder of the World for sure!

              View from a bridge in Bath (it was a bit cloudy in the morning but then cleared up)


Back in London we went to Harrods and did a few other touristy things. I finally had Nandos after hearing how good it is and I was not disappointed! The only con of our time in London was when my friends and I were at another restaurant and the servers were not very nice to us at all. I had gone to said restaurant the first time I was in London and had an enjoyable experience and great food. This second time was different and I will not be going back there again.


I hate to leave off on a bit of a negative note but next post will be up shortly and will bring back the positive vibes.

 
 -Emily

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