That Time I met Miley...

Wow so I seriously apologize in advance for my extreme lack of posting. Considering the majority of my readers have been with me this whole week I haven't felt the need to blog, and have seriously just been too busy running around! I'll start of with EURODISNEY. I honestly don't even know how to describe this place. It was like the Magic Kingdom in Disney World but miniature. It had every land but like with only a few rides and attractions. And of course everything was in French. The weird thing was the attractions still had some English terms that were the same from America. It was only a 35 minute RER ride outside of Paris. I'll discuss some of the highlights. Space Mountain was a lot different and a lot more intense then in Disney World. It went very fast and the minute it started to shoot off my camera fell out of my pocket. I felt it fall and stepped on it the entire time scared for my life I would lose it. This space mountain had crazy drops and 360 spins but when the ride was over my camera was safe and sound under my foot. I may or may not have been crying though- the workers must have thought I was such a wimp. Some rides we went on that they don't have in the states is Pinocchio's ride and an Indiana Jones Roller Coaster. Both weren't that great. The weather was getting colder and rainier so we decided to head to their other park which was MGM. It was walking distance right next door. Once we got there we went straight to a ride called Crush's Coaster, from Finding Nemo. Hayley and Marley had fast passes so they went in right away. My mom, Kiley, and I stood in line for about an hour in the pouring freezing rain. How fair is that? Once we got on the ride it was worth it. It was an actual roller coaster and really fun. After that we were all frozen so we went inside restaurant and got some hot chocolate. Then suddenly the sun came up so Marley, Hayley and I went on Tower of Terror. After that ride we were all super exhausted and headed home. Once we finally made it back to Paris we went to get some Chinese food and then back to the apartment for some major sleep.

Wednesday was my day to show my family my Parisien life. We started off at Tango Mom's house. I toured them my apartment and then they stopped by a bakery for croissants and pain au chocolates. Pretty typical morning for me. Then we took the metro over to Institute Catholique and we walked around the campus. Then I took them though the Jardin du Louxembourg and over to the IPP building. There they met Sean and we took a quick break from walking. Once everyone was refueled we went to the favorite crepe shop. I think it was a hit with everyone. Then we started to do some shopping down St. Michele. We stopped in some stores and then made our way down to Notre Dame. The minute we got there it started to pour so we saw it super fast then ran to the closest metro station. We took the metro over to the Gallaries Lafayette area, for more shopping of course, and when we left the train it was sunny again. Crazy Paris weather. My family was in awe at the giant department store and after some browsing we headed over to H&M. After we were all shopped out we went back to our apartment area and I made some Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft shapes of course). Hayley, my Dad, and Kiley got some pizza and sushi.

Thursday I actually had to go to class during the day. Marley came to Paris class with me and zoned out the entire time. She made some really nice doodles. Then I had litterature. After 6 hours of class I met up with my family on the ritzy side of Rue St. Honore. We walked around some and then met up with Lauren for dinner at a resturant that charged us 20 euro for sharing food. Let's not get into that, it was pretty ridiculous. When we got back to the apartment Thursday night we had to pack everything and clean up because Friday we were headed to London!

Friday we hopped on the Eurostar in the morning and headed our way to London. Very enjoyable time spent on the train. We had a delicious lunch of tortellini and great service. We also sat at tables so we were able to play bananagrams. We got into London at around 12:00pm. We checked into our hotel and then went to the National Gallaries. This is a big art museum, that reminded me of the Mussee D'Orsay. Lots of impressionism, but nothing I really recognized. After the museum we went over to Harrods, another giant department store. I found a scarf I really liked. While the shopping was incredible, what was even better was the food court. It was huge and had everything you could ever want from Krispy Kreme to Dim Sum. We didn't have dinner there becuase it was closing so we had to head back to our hotel. My mom wasn't feeling well at all so my Dad, Kiley, Hayley, Marley and I went to a Rabbi's reccomendation resturant called Pizza Express. It wasn't comparable to a sabaro like the names sounds. It was pretty good, I had a salad but ate a lot of my dad's pizza and Hayley's pasta as well. Then we walked back to the hotel and all fell asleep very quickly.

On Saturday we woke up early and bought tickets to do a hop on hop off bus tour. The tickets were good for all day so we were able to hop off where ever we wanted and then go back on. Our first stop was on Oxford street for some more major shopping. We got lunch at a place called Carnaby Burger Co. if you couldn't guess it was on Carnaby street. After lunch we went to Hanleys. This was a huge toy store that really brings out the kid in everyone. I think I enjoyed that shopping the most. After being caught up in the toy store we hopped back on the bus. After I few stops we ended up at Big Ben, the Parliament Building, and Westminster Abbey.



We walked around that area and then hopped back on the bus. At this point I was so exhausted I have no idea what else we saw because I fell asleep on the bus. All I know is that we ended up at Buckingham Palace. After a five minute break back to our hotel room we grabbed a taxi and went to quick Italian restaurant. We had to be quick because it was 7:00pm at this point and we were going to see a play at 7:30. We made it to the play with plenty of time to spare. We went to go see the new Andrew Lloyd Weber musical called, Love Never Dies. It is the sequel to Phantom of the Opera and it was fantastic! It was unlike any musical I've ever seen. The music was great but the special effects were unreal. After the show we headed back home and ordered some room service. Then extremely exhausted again went to sleep.

Sunday morning- Happy Easter- from that phrase you can probably guess that the majority of stores and attractions were closed. We were still able to keep our sleves busy though. We first went on the "Magical Mystery Tour." This was a walking tour of highlights of The Beatles career. Some of the stops were Paul McCartney's buisness office. The Palladium Theater where The Beatles played, which was where Beatlemania started. Now they are showing the musical The Sister Act there. We also went to the rooftop where the Beatles performed their last concert. The last place on our stop was Abbey Road. We ended getting a typical Beatles Abbey Road picture but it was easier said than done. The street isn't blocked off at all so cars still drive by even though there are plenty of people standing around wanting to take a picture walking across. We ditched the tour after that point. The tour itself was interesting, and the stories were good, but our tour guide was an absolute jerk and not enjoyable to listen to. After the tour we took the bus over to the Madame Tussaud's wax museum area. We had lunch at a traditional English Pub. My family all ordered fish and chips. I had a salad that they skrewed up twice so I just picked off of Marley's food. Then we went to wait in the long line for the wax museum. The line went by fairly quickly and the museum was really cool. The wax statues look so incredibly real!! It's even kind of scary. We saw a bunch of wax people and then my parents and I went through the haunted house area which wasn't very scary at all. At the end of the museum I regretted not eating lunch because I did not feel well at all. We went back to the hotel and I napped for an hour. Then we went up and went to a cook at your table Japanese resturant which was really good and fun. I had my usual teriyaki chicken but for dessert we ordered fire balls which was cooked ice cream. Very interesting. Then we went home and all fell asleep.

Monday morning we slept in a little. We woke up around 10 and started packing up to head back to Paris. When we were all done shopping we walked over to a store Hayley had been talking about since the minute we arrived in London...Top Shop. this store was unlike anything I've seen before. It was huge and there was so much cute clothes! My sisters bought the store out and I just got shorts and a shirt (totally preparing for Greece). After we left 45 minutes later (which seemed more like three hours) we ran back to our hotel, grabbed our luggage, and bolted to the Eurostar station. We were so nervous we weren't going to make our train. We got on the train with plenty of time and made ourselves comfortable. The food the way back wasn't as good...bummer. After the train ride we took the metro-luggage and all- back to our hotel. I was impressed that they didn't cave in and take a cab. They are true Parisians now! After we checked into the hotel my Mom and I headed over to my apartment. My sisters and my Dad went to buy souvenirs. After I finished packing my stuff up from my apartment (I am switching my living situation, but that's for another post) we went over to drop my stuff off at Lauren's apartment. We sat at Lauren's for around 15 minutes and then took the metro back to the Champs Elysee to meet up with the rest of my family. They were at Haggen Daz. When we got there we ordered some fondue and they brought us out chocolate fondue and little balls of ice cream to dip in the fondue. Definitly an interesting choice for dessert but fun none the less. We headed back to the hotel and I helped my family pack. They are all packed now and most of them are asleep. Since it is 2am right now I am going to be heading to bed as well! Sorry about this long post, I'll be better with my updates once my life goes back to normal. Just some fun things coming up for my blog and that I am really looking forward to: Brussels with Jori, Greece and Italy Spring break!!!