Half Term

It was half term this week. That means that I didn't have school all week. We filled up the time with a lot of activities. I'm worn out.

On Monday, we took the bus tour I told you about in my last posts.

On Wednesday, I went to a jump zone with my Iranian friend, Danny. Actually, Danny was born in the UK, but his parents are from Iran. I told him I was sorry about the whole Shah thing. He said he didn't hold me responsible. Now we're allies.

On Thursday, I went to the Natural History Museum with my Jamaican friends, Kae and Lynden. Actually, they're more British than they are Jamaican, but they do have Jamaican blood in them.

On Friday, I was supposed to go to the London Aquarium with my Russian friend, Katrina. She couldn't make it, though, so we went ahead without her. We realized that we've already been to the best aquariums in the world (the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta). The aquariums in Paris and London are okay, but they don't compare.

On Friday night, I had my first sleep over. Kae and Lynden came over and spent the night.

On Saturday, we went to Richmond and walked around. Richmond is a short train ride west of here. It's known for being a posh inner suburb of London. Mick Jagger lives there (the Rolling Stones were discovered there). We walked along the River Thames and up to the highest point in Richmond Park. It's a pretty place. I can see why Mick Jagger gets his satisfaction there.

Stonehenge

Our last stop on the bus tour was Stonehenge. I think Grandpa's going to be jealous that we got to see it, so I'll give him all the details: It's a bunch of rocks out in the middle of nowhere.

Actually, it was pretty cool. It's an impressive sight. Those Stonehengers must have been pretty strong to lift all those rocks. Unless, of course, they had help from the aliens...

I guess the story of Stonehenge and the mystery is what make it so interesting. Maybe Grandpa will tell me about it some day.

We took about 15-30 minutes walking around Stonehenge and taking lots of pictures. Then we got back on the bus and headed back to London. It was a busy day visiting three cool sights, but it was fun. As the tour guide said, we can now tick all those boxes.

Bath Time

From Windsor Castle, the bus drove us about two hours west to Bath. Bath has a pretty interesting history. Back when England was part of the Roman Empire, the Romans built Roman baths from the hot springs. They must have had pretty big families, because those baths were pretty big. The Great Bath was the first thing we checked out when we arrived.

Mama's favorite author, Jane Austen, lived in Bath for a while and wrote some books there. We paid homage by going to the Jane Austen Centre and perusing the book store there. If we'd had more time, we would have gone through the museum, but the bus wasn't willing to wait for us.

We did get to walk through some of Bath's streets. We walked past Sally Lunn's, home of the apparently famous Sally Lunn's Buns. It's been around since 1680, so maybe even Jane Austen enjoyed a bun or two. There was a line out the door waiting for buns, though, and the bus was getting anxious, so we missed our chance to try a 300 year old bun.

Windsor Castle

Monday was Memorial Day in the States and Spring Bank Holiday here in the UK. That means that I didn't have school and Daddy didn't have work. We celebrated by spending six hours on a bus.

It's better than it sounds. We took a tour bus to some sights we'd wanted to see. We took a train to London Victoria first thing in the morning, then walked to the Victoria Coach Station, where we started the bus tour. Our first stop was Windsor Castle.

An interesting thing about Windsor Castle is that the Queen still lives there sometimes. You can walk through the State Apartments when she's not there (which we did). There's a huge dining hall, the Waterloo Chamber, with a big long table that would fit my whole entourage of pretend friends, and then some.

There's also a huge doll house (Queen Mary's Dolls' House) on display at the castle. It was big enough to park a bunch of my big toy cars in its garages.

We only had about two hours to spend at Windsor Castle before we had to get back on the bus. I'll tell you where we went next in my next post.

Wrapping Up

On Wednesday, we went to the Paris Aquarium. It was actually kind of lame compared to other aquariums I've been to (Chicago & Atlanta).

When Daddy finished work, we all went to Angelina, near Jardin des Tuileries. It's supposed to have the best hot chocolate in Paris. I don't drink hot chocolate, but Mama said it was good. But what really got her talking was the chocolate pastry we ordered. I tried some of it too and it was great. Tasted like silk, but a lot better, since I don't imagine real silk tastes all that good.

Thursday morning, we headed back to the Gare du Nord station, boarded the Eurostar, and headed back to London. The week in Paris wore McKenzie and me out so much that we slept all the way home.

Versailles

On Tuesday, Daddy had to do some work in Paris, so Mama, McKenzie, and I went to the Palace of Versailles. Versailles is south of Paris so we had to take a train to get there. Now, you know I like trains, and I like double-decker buses, but get this: they have double-decker trains in Paris! We rode on one to get to Versailles. Versailles was beautiful. The grounds were cool. We walked all over and checked out all the fountains. These French really know how to do their palaces.

After we got back, and after Daddy finished work, I talked Mama and Daddy into taking us out at night to see the Eiffel Tower lit up. We didn't get back to the hotel until after midnight, but I've decided I like the nightlife.

Jardin du Luxembourg

On Monday in Paris, we took a stroll down the Promenade Plantée, an elevated park in east Paris. Then we went south of the river Seine to the Jardin du Luxembourg, one of the largest parks in Paris. There's a big pond/fountain in the middle of the park, where kids bring their little sailboats and push them in. They wait for them to sail back to the edge and then push them back again. Check out the video.

There's also a statue of my Uncle Jed in the park. At least it looks kind of like him...

After hanging out in the park, riding the merry-go-round there, and sitting down on the grass with hundreds of other people while we ate a snack, we walked north across the river to the Île de la Cité. There was a group of inline skaters there showing off. Here's a video of one of them.

I can do that too, and I don't need skates to do it...

Our Lady

After we checked out the Louvre, we walked East along the Seine and across to the Île de la Cité. The Île de la Cité is an island in the middle of the Seine. Apparently, it's where Paris started. It's also where Notre Dame is.

We admired the cathedral from outside, then took a walk around inside. It was neat. That makes the second large and famous Catholic church I've been to. Maybe I'll go to St. Peter's Basilica next...

After we had walked around most of the city, we figured it was time for a boat ride. We floated down the Seine. Apparently that's a very touristy thing to do in Paris, but hey, we're tourists. It was a great way to see the city. We saw more great views of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.

Toward the end of the boat ride, we floated past this statue. They call it the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, they made a bigger one too, but they gave that one away...

Champs-Élysées

On Sunday we took the metro to the Charles de Gaule Etoile stop. That's where the Arc de Triomphe is. We checked out the Arc de Triomphe for a while and then walked down the Champs-Élysées. If you're having a hard time pronouncing these names, join the club. But here's a website that helps: http://www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/. And here's another that teaches you some French: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/. The Champs-Élysées runs from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de Concorde. There are a bunch of shops along there that sell stuff we'd never buy. But there was a cool Puegot store that had some race cars. Check me out in front of my favorite. We walked all the way to the Place de Concorde (a little over a mile) and to the Jardin des Tuileries just beyond Concorde. The Jardin des Tuileries is where the Louvre is. It's a cool park even without the Louvre, but having the Louvre there doesn't hurt. We didn't go in, but we checked out the big I. M. Pei pyramid out front. Mama thought it was cool. Daddy thought it didn't fit in. I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition of the old and the new. (By the way, happy birthday Grandpa. He's 70 today. I can't count that high, but Daddy says it's a really big number.)

Eiffel Tower

After we arrived in Paris, we checked in to our hotel. We stayed in La Défense, a business district in the Northwest part of Paris. We then took the Metro to the Champs Elysée Clemenceau stop and walked across and then along the river Seine. We walked toward the Eiffel Tower, but stopped at a little playground on the way. McKenzie got a kick out of the slide.

After a few times down the slide, we headed on to the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty busy day, so we had to wait in line for tickets for about an hour and a half. The time passed quickly for me, though, cause McKenzie and I took a nap while we waited.

We went up to the very top of the tower. Mama got a little nervous on the elevator ride up, but once we got up there everyone was fine. It was a sweet view from up there. We could see the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and all along the Seine. And from that high up, people look like sprinkles and cars look like candy.

Bonjour

I just got back from a week in Paris. Daddy had to do some work there, so we decided to tag along.

We took the Eurostar train. It's about a two hour train ride that goes from London St. Pancras station to Paris Gare du Nord. It goes under the English Channel to get there. We left around 9am last Saturday. A couple of hours later, Mama told me we were in Paris.

"Where's the Eiffel Tower. I can't see it." I announced, loud enough for the whole train car to hear.

I got a few chuckles from that one. The Eiffel Tower is nowhere near Gare du Nord. Not to mention that you can't see it from inside a train station.

We stayed in Paris from Saturday until yesterday (Thursday). We had a lot of fun. I'll tell you all about it and share pictures in my upcoming posts. Until then, au revoir.