Bonjour Paris ♥

          Bonjour everyone!  I have to say that my weekend away was not what I expected it to be. Yes I knew I was going to Paris and all the information the tour company had for us but I didn’t know that I could still get that rush when seeing something for the first time.

          Now I know this sounds corny but the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower my heart stopped. I could not believe that I was actually in Paris and seeing this with my own eyes, one of the most beautiful sites that I have seen so far in my life.

          Alright so Saturday morning started dark and early, I say dark because it was 3am when I got up and the sun hadn’t risen yet. The family had to get up at 2am to get ready for their week away skiing in France so of course I woke up because the girls were yelling down the stairs to one another. Oh well, I had everything all ready to go a bit earlier so not a problem for me.

          My friend who came with me, Heather, slept over the night before so that it would be easier to get to the pick up point for the coach. We arrived at the coach on time and picked up everyone else on schedule as well. I guess a lot of people go to Europe during the half terms because on our way to Dover to catch the ferry we got stopped, not stuck stopped, in traffic for ONE AND A HALF HOURS! It was ridiculous!
We caught the 3:40pm ferry over to Calais and were finally in France after 5pm. We didn’t get into Paris until 8:30-9pm however so no river cruises on the Saturday (we did it on the Monday before leaving). We stopped for dinner and were at the hotel by 10:30pm.

          Sunday was another early morning, we got to Disneyland right when it opened and had a pick up time of 6:30pm (after the parade and a few stops to make sure we did all the shopping we wanted to.)

          The weather was beautiful for Disneyland! Sunny all day and only a little bit of wind, it was great for walking around and going on rides. Heather and I chose to go to the official Disney Park rather than the Studios because there was more to do in the Park itself, and also that’s where all the Princesses and Mickey Mouse live :) 

          We went on “The Tea Cups”, “It’s A Small World” (Canada in the ride is a mountain with people skating and playing hockey at the bottom, in the middle there is a Mountie standing beside a moose and at the top there is a Polar Bear beside an igloo), “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Star Tours” (a Star Wars ride where you are at the Sat Wars airport and are waiting for your ship to take you somewhere and the ride itself has you boarding a starship and taking lots of sharp turns), and “The Haunted Mansion”.

          I had a blast in Disney! We watched the parade at 5pm and then made our way to the coach for our night tour of Paris. Basically we drove around Paris looking at all the famous places and arches. We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe (top left in picture), Palais Garnier (The Opera House) (top right in picture), Roue de Paris (bottom left in picture), the Louvre Museum (bottom right in picture) and then of course the Eiffel Tower. 

          On our last day we visited the Eiffel Tower and afterwards went on a river cruise to see more of Paris. We got to the Eiffel Tower right when it opened and joined the queue to get our tickets, over an hour wait just for the lifts to the second level. So instead of waiting for the lifts a couple of us decided to take the stairs. Yes you read that right, I walked up to the second level of the Eiffel tower. All 670 steps!! It only took about 20minutes to do so, with a little break in between to look around, but it was an amazing feeling to be able to say that I walked to the second floor.

          To get to the third level you have to take a lift so after we got our tickets for that up we went. We get to the top and bam all we can see is fog!
          If we had gone a hour or so later we would have been able to see but timing wise we couldn’t and I’m alright with that, I still went to the third level and I’m happy with that.

          After the river cruise it was time to head home. We caught the earlier ferry home so after taking the ferry, the coach, a train ride, the tube, a bus and then walking I was finally home from Paris around 11:30pm Monday night.

          It was such an amazing weekend :) Paris is absolutely beautiful! 

           Now that my fun weekend is over I don’t have much planned for the rest of my week off, other than the “Pixar Event” at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday (22^nd). So I am off to watch more of the Olympics and to cheer Canada on. Ttfn!

A Little More About London and Me

So after going through my most recent posts I've realized that I haven't said much about how I feel being here or some of the new things I've learned since being here. So here's my list so far:

1) Tube wise here are my comments on each of the lines I have been on:

Metropolitan Line - very fancy carriages, one of the best looking trains I've seen so far - more space compared to the other trains (my personal favourite line to take), fastest way to get into London (40mins tops to get to Baker Street from my place)

Piccadilly Line - a slower way to get into central London but it has the most frequent stops I make on it so I usually take the Metro line in and then connect to it by the Bakerloo Line

Central Line - a very fast train, when it wants to be. Have had to take this line for the past month because the Metro and Piccadilly are being worked on. Takes about an hour to get to Oxford Circus and from there everything is within walking distance

Bakerloo Line - tying with the Jubilee line for being the loudest train, I usually turn up my iPod if I'm on this line. It's so squeaky and noisy but it's good for connecting to places  

Jubilee Line - as with the Bakerloo Line it's noisy! But the only way to get to Westminister in 40minutes and also Abbey Road (which I haven't been to yet because the line is being worked on)

2) People have different speeds they walk in.

        #1 - very very slowly walking people 

        #2 - speedy walkers who push their way through without even saying "Excuse me" (that could be the Canadian in me though)

        #3 - slow walkers who push around the very very slow people

        #4 - the "I really need to check something so I'm going to stop in the middle of everyone's way to do so with no warning what so ever"

       #5 - and finally the semi fast walkers who know where they want to go but don't push people out of the way to get there and manoeuvre around the stopping people (a.k.a Me)

3) Fashion sense goes out the window, which I am quite enjoying, because if people think I'm weird for wearing a light spring jacket in the middle of "Winter" there are other girls wearing shorts and sandals even!

4) The time difference is still a big deal to me. By time I am half-way through my day everyone back home is just getting up (which works in some favours because I can stay out as late as I want and still FaceTime back home because it's the afternoon there.

5) Meeting new people is easy but also hard. First there are language barriers with some of my friends and me, which I am getting use to but sometimes when talking with one another we get confused because we don't understand what each other is fully saying, but it takes time. Second meeting new people at Pubs or out and about scares me because I'm not as out going as I use to be (new place, still kind of getting use to it) but I still meet people in the end and thats all that matters.

6) Going with the comment above you gotta be able to do things by yourself and not care about being alone some of the time. Some of the time I prefer to go to different places by myself just because I know what I want to see and usually walk faster than some people (thanks Mom for that) so I don't have to wait for my slow poke friends :P

7) There is still lots that I haven't seen in London but that is one of my New Years Resolutions - to see as much of London as possible before I leave.

8) I wish I could do more traveling but as you know to travel you need money and time! With the amount I am saving for other trips, spending money and topping up my Oyster card (which is not cheap) I'll be going to the places on the top of my list to see but unfortunately I cannot see it all. Plus time, I only get weekends off, a week in February and 2 and 1/2 weeks in August. I already have trips planned for the week in February and 2 and 1/2 weeks in August but I am going to try and do day trips in the Spring to places outside of London that I really want to see but I don't think I'll make it to Scotland or Ireland. 

And now for the cheesy bit.

9) Being here has taught me a lot about myself and who I am as a person. What I see myself as and who I want to be in the future. The trip and experience as opened up my eyes to so much that I could not have possible seen if I had not left Canada, and the comfort of home. I now know that I am comfortable to do things by myself, explore new places and not be scared and to meet new people and learn from them.

Hope you enjoyed this post. 6 days until I'm in Paris!! :)

Can lucky even begin to describe my day?

First off, now that it is finally confirmed, I can know say that I will be going to Paris on the 15th-17th :)

AND I can finally tell you what I will be doing on the tour. We travel to Paris on the 15th bright and early by coach and ferry to get there. Once there we get to go on an hour river cruise of the Seine River where we will see the Eiffel Tower, Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral as well as other landmarks, palaces and ornate bridges.  I'll have to top up on my Paris landmarks before leaving so I know what I'm actually seeing.
On the second day it's going to be legen....wait for it and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is - dairy! We get to go to DISNEYLAND PARIS for the whole day! I am so excited for this!!! I love Disney and have been to the one in Florida so this will add to the places I've been too :)
On the last day we get to go to the Eiffel Tower and go all the way up to the third floor. I'm going to be scared the entire time I'm up there but I'll push through that obviously because when else will I be able to do this again? We then get to do some shopping before heading back home.

It'll be a nice 3-day vacation during the girls half term (as they are away skiing the entire week).



Yesterday my friend Lina and I went to go and see the play "Mojo" which is based in the 50's in London Soho at a pub. For a short description it about this Silver Johnny singer who preforms at the pub and the next morning the pub owner is found dead and Sliver Johnny is missing. The rest of the play is trying to figure out who killed the owner, where Silver Johnny is and other problems the pub workers have with one another. It was an amazing play overall, the storyline was great and it was really funny too.

Right so about luck and being extremely lucky.

We went and picked up our tickets at the box office as the afternoon show was ending. We decided to wait around to see if we could see anyone from the show. At the stage door there was a sign that said the cast wouldn't be signing anything after the afternoon show so we went back to the front doors to figure out what we wanted to do. Just then Ben Whishaw and another guy came out the front doors and went into the cafe across the street. I couldn't see the other guy very clearly but it looked like someone else from the play...I was wrong but as soon as I saw his face I knew who he was. Andrew Scott (from the BBC's Sherlock - he plays James Moriarty, as well as other acting roles but I've only seen him in that).

After the show Lina and I went to the stage door to see if we could see any of the actors. We saw Rupert Grint, Colin Morgan (he plays Merlin in "Merlin") and Tom Rhy Harris come out to sigh autographs but we were to far away for that. I got some videos but that was about it. Afterwards we went back to the front door to figure out what to do next and to see if anyone else would come out the front door. We wait about twenty minutes before we left to go home. We walked maybe 5 feet when I told Lina to look in a certain spot....it was Rupert Grint at the pub on the corner with some friends. I have no idea where my courage came from but next thing I knew I was walking up to him, apologizing for interrupting his night but just wanted to say how great the play was. The three of us talked for a bit about the play and everyones acting and we even got a picture :)


Yesterday was one of the luckiest days I've had here so far, as in meeting people.
The next month my weekends are packed! Next Friday (7th) I'm going to see "Dirty Dancing", the weekend after that (15th-17th) it's Paris, the weekend after that (22nd) I'm going to a Pixar Event at the Royal Albert Hall, the weekend after that my friend Erin is coming down and we're hopefully going to see "Wicked" (28th-2nd) and then on March 8th Lina and I are going to see "The Lion King".

My goodness I'll be busy but it's all totally worth it :)