Bath

One of the best parts about Bath was going to the fashion museum and trying on corsets and hoop skirts. They had clothing from the 17th century right up until today, but most of our time was spent in the dress up room. I'm sure we didn't have our corsets as tight as they are supposed to be, but even so I had trouble breathing in mine. It was difficult to sit down and bend over. I can't imagine wearing a corset everyday with all the other layers of heavy clothing the women wore back then.

Check out that skirt!

We also went on a tour of the Roman Baths. This place was huge and there are still areas of it that haven't been uncovered or were destroyed over the years. At the end of the tour you can sample the mineral water that everyone believes is so good for you. It was very warm and VERY mineral-y. Lacey and I had a sip but we dared Amy to drink a whole glass of it, which she did. I'm pretty sure she almost threw up.






Just so you know, the Romans didn't bathe in water that colour. It turned green from the rain and air mixing with the minerals... or something like that.

Bath is about 45 minutes from Stonehenge and even though it was getting dark and we knew it would be closed already, we decided to head there anyways. It was so cold that all we did was take a few pictures and get back in the car, but I'm glad I can say I've seen it.


Overall, the trip was amazing. In the end, it doesn't matter how much money you spend, what matters is that you have fun and make memories to last a lifetime. I think I can safely say for the three of us that we won't forget this trip anytime soon.

London

Sunday morning we took the Eurostar train (which is super fast and goes under the Channel) from Paris to London. After barely making the train, it only took us an hour and a half to get there. Like I said before, we didn't have a hotel booked before we got to London. We searched the web for hours but could never agree on a hotel or the price. We ended up going to a hotel booking place at the train station and got a beautiful four star hotel room for a great price (still more than I wanted to spend, but at that point I didn't care anymore). Even though it worked out fine I don't recommend doing this on your next vacation! Our hotel was a five minute walk from Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace so we headed there first.

Westminster Abbey

Parliament Buildings

Big Ben!

We then headed to Piccadilly Circus which is the Times Square of London. This area was my favourite part of London. It was so busy and had a ton cool shops and theaters. They even had a Cinnabon, which after more than a year of not smelling that delicious, cinnamony smell, I had to get some... twice!


A trip to London wouldn't be complete without seeing the changing of the guards. We got there early to make sure we got a prime spot. We watched the guards get ready near their barracks and then followed behind them on the road to the palace. It was cool to see the guards all dressed up, but it wasn't really that exciting. It was long, not a lot went on and it was so crowded that for a lot of it you couldn't even see anything. I'm still glad we went, though.


We also went to the Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn (among others) was imprisoned and executed. One of the coolest things about the towers was seeing the carvings on the walls done by the prisoners. They were so beautiful but so sad at the same time.


We rented a car and drove to the nearby city of Bath and visited Stonehenge, but I'll leave those for a separate post.

Paris

sorry this took so long...

We spent the next three days in the beautiful city of Paris. The first day we did a lot of walking and saw the Louvre, Arc de Triomph and Notre Dame Cathedral. Out of those three my favourite would have to be the Louvre. We didn't go inside since its humongous and would take hours to go through, and the fact that none of us are really into museums or art. The only thing in there that I know of is the Mona Lisa, which I've heard is disappointing to see in person anyways because its really small. So we just enjoyed taking pictures of the outside and had a little break by one of the many fountains surrounding the building.

Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre


Notre Dame Cathedral

Our second day was spent at Disneyland Paris. Our family didn't go to Disneyland when we were younger so we were all pretty excited to unleash our inner child. The excitement wore off after we realized there weren't many adult rides. I think in total we went on five rides all day and only one of those was a roller coaster. We stood in line for a while to get Cinderella and Prince Charming autographs for Lacey's girls. We also got a recording of them saying hi to all of my nieces, which was worth the wait! I'm glad we went to Disneyland but I would never go back unless I had kids with me.

Saturday was our last day in Paris and we started the day by going to see Moulin Rouge. It is in the beautiful Montmarte area of Paris, which is built on a hill. Once you get to the top you have a gorgeous view of the city. The streets in this area are very cute and Parisian looking. They are lined with cafes, bakeries and souvenir shops. We used our last day as our shopping day (we can't go to a city without shopping!) and spent a few hours at various clothing stores. We also got some nice souvenirs at booths set up along the River Seine.


Our last stop before dinner was the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up the tower but spent an hour or so walking around the base of it and trying to get a picture of the three of us with as much of the tower as possible. Not very easy! I basically had to lay on the ground to get the first shot, but it was worth it. We had dinner at a nearby pizzeria then walked back to the tower to see it at night with the lights on. After eating the most delicious Nutella and banana crepe ever, we got back on the underground to go to our flat. We were leaving early the next morning so had to pack that night, as well as try and find a hotel for our four nights in London (yes, the night before we were to leave we still didn't have a hotel, but more about that later).

Paris is gorgeous. I would have enjoyed it more if I could speak more than five words of French (it's very stressful not knowing the language) but it's definitely a city I want to spend more time in.

A Little Busy...

I'm sorry I haven't posted about the rest of our trip. I promise I will but I've been a little sidetracked with packing and trying to make the most of the last couple of weeks. Hopefully in the next few days I can find some time to write about it.

Just so you know, today is our last day here. We leave early tomorrow morning. SCARY!!!!