London.......this time with dad

By the time we got back to London from paris, it was lunchtime. Jay and I had found the borough markets when we were in London last, so it was time to head back there while walking along the south bank. We had a surprise in store for lunch in the form of an ostrich burger….yuummmm delish! Dad gave his seal of approval! The burgers are so yummmm and full of flavour. We also taste tested some other foods and then unfortunately we had to drag ourselves away from the food to move on……..

As dad hadn’t been back to London in quite some time, we decided it would be worthwhile for all of us to do the ‘big red bus’ around London. The bus is a great way to put things in perspective and to work out what is near what and what tube stations are near the sights and also the distance between different landmarks. We saw lots of sights such as the changing of the guard, Prime Ministers house in Downing street, Trafalgar square, green park, the marble arch, st pauls cathedral, tower bridge and tower of London. The big bus tour also included a river cruise that went all the way up to Greenwich and back. The guide on the boat was politically incorrect and he had a story about every pub up the river and what to do with the kids while you were at the pub….

The next few days in london were spent going back to some of the sights that we had skipped on the big red bus. We went to the Buckingham palace state rooms which are only open a few months of the year and jay and I went and knocked on the queens door for some tea, but unfortunately she wasn’t home….It took quite a few hours to go through the state rooms and there was a special exhibition on the royal wedding to mark the 60^th wedding anniversary of queen Elizabeth. They had all the wedding outfits, including her wedding dress and various gifts that they had received. We were also able to walk through the gardens and buy some tacky royal souvenirs on the way out!

Next day, it was time to explore and climb St Pauls Cathedral and what a climb it was. I wasn’t sure that I was going make it as towards the top that stairs are actually wire mess and it’s a long way down…! As you can see from the photos, we did have a beautiful and sunny clear day so when we got to the top we could see a lot of London. We also were given a free tour of the cathedral by one of the friends of st pauls, she was a gorgeous little old lady, but she did seem to keep tuning out of this world and staring into space….but she knew a lot when she came back to earth. St Pauls has recently been cleaned and all the stone work has gone back to its original colour and the roof is all tiled with mosaics which again, are stunning!

After St Pauls, we had one last attraction to see and that was the tower of London where the crown jewels are kept. They actually have travelators in where the crown jewels are so that you can’t stand for too long in front of them! We had one of the beefeaters take us around on quite an amusing tour, but still with lots of historical knowledge.

And, yet again it was time to farewell London discover Northern Ireland!!

Paris

Paris was one of the cities that we were looking forward to the most. Not only because you hear so many great things about paris such as it’s the ‘city of love’ yadda, yadda yadda, but also because this was where we were meeting my dad who was going to be travelling around with us for the next couple of weeks.

Jay and I headed to Paris 2 days earlier than my dad so we had more time and so that we could find our way around the city before dad arrived as he only had 2 days in paris with us.

It is such a beautiful city and you could spend hours or even days just wandering around the city getting lost in all the different parts and the beautiful buildings and cafes on every street corner. Paris was by far, one of the most expensive cities that we had visited so far (excluding london of course!). One of the things that we had to do in Paris was sit at a café and people watch and have a café latte (or cappuccino)!! We did this and almost broke our daily budget and so we took photos of the occasion to remember it!!!

On our first day we did a city walk that we found in the lonely planet and it took us around some different parts of paris and to a particular point so that you could look across the city and just high enough above the other buildings. Paris is quite a low lying city with only 2 tall buildings so to get a point where you can look across the city is rare. We also visiting on our walking tour a great little food market (all our days out involve lots of food!!). We also went to see the moulin rouge.

The weather in Paris was certainly a lot cooler than expected. We only had 1 fine and perfectly sunny day and this was the day that dad arrived. Jay and I headed out to the airport to meet dad and show him the way back to our hotel and then it was time to get sightseeing! First stop, the Lourve. It is open late a few nights a week so we had plenty of time to look around and find the 2 most important things, Mona and the upside down pyramid. Of course it was quite a busy the day that we went so we went to see Mona Lisa straight away. When we got there, we were caught by surprise as the signs saying that no photos were allowed were turned around the guards who were standing next to it, did nothing to stop everyone taking photos and numerous flashes going off, so we snapped away!! After looking around the lourve, it was time to stock up on caffeine as we still had more sights to see, its amazing, but they actually have a starbucks in the lourve!

Next sight to see, was the arch du triumpe. We got to the top right (after something like 266 stairs) on dusk, so it has fantastic views of all of paris as all roads lead to this central point, it was very pretty with all the lights and the effifel tower all lit up. At 9pm every night there is a light show on the effifel tower, so we reserved a spot and waited for the light show – very cool, it sparkles all over! By this time, it was time to put dad to bed as he was fading fast…..
The next day we had an early start as we had lots to cover, first stop was the effifel tower. Unfortunately it was a particularly clear day, but as we were leaving the next day, it was today or nothing! As jay and I are on a budget, and its cheaper to climb to the 2nd stage and then catch the lift to the very top, we decided to do this. Dad wasn’t so keen after the climb the night before but decided it would be ok. It was quite a leisurely stroll up a couple of hundred stairs and once we got to the 2nd stage, it was time to get the life to the very top. The lift is actually a little bit scary going to the top as it just keeps going up and up and up and the feeling is quite weird in the stomach! Great view once you get to the top and the lift ride back down isn’t as bad!!!

We then went onto notre dame which is a massive church. Its very beautiful inside like a lot of churches in Europe, however the way that this one was built is quite amazing and the view on the outside is quite spectacular. There is also an archaeological sight underneath some of the church which used to be an ancient city which we also checked out.

The next day, it was time to catch the eurostar back to London to spend a few days there with dad.