Kären and Amanda go to Europe: Cars, Busses, Trains and Planes

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For the next few weeks, this blog will not be Adventures in Colombia... it will be about my travels in Europe!!! The school year ended a couple weeks ago so I packed up all my stuff, and flew home. But with just enough time to unpack and pack again for Europe. My brother is getting married in Bath, England in July. So, my best friend Amanda and I flew over early! We are spending a week in Paris, a week in London and then going to Bath for the wedding. Exciting!

We arrived in Paris today. So far it has been a lot of traveling... but we made it! I actually just had to look to see what day it is because it's been so crazy! We flew out of Seatac Wednesday morning and arrived in London Thursday morning. David and Hannah came to meet us at the airport with oyster cards for us to ride the tube. I'm learning British words, by the way. Okay, so I already knew that the subway was called the tube, but I did not know that you would need an oyster card to use it. Amanda and I also discovered you go to baggage reclaim, and instead of looking for an exit, you look for a way out sign.

Although we were exhausted from not really sleeping on the plane, we decided to try to stay up to try to get back on schedule. (London is 8 hours ahead of Seattle) I walked around with my cousins, and saw Big Ben, Westminister Abbey and the Thames. London is beautiful, and has lots of energy. It was funny how, even though it was definately London- it felt kind of... normal. Not foreign. I guess it's just a big contrast from being in Colombia where everything is sooo different from the US. The weather is just like Washington, too. Anyways, after we got back we were all invited to a barbeque with some of Hannah's friends. It was fun to meet people and put names with faces. Of course we stayed there later than we meant to, and we had to be up at a quarter to 4 to catch a bus and get to the train station. We missed the first bus, and ended up literally running to get checked in and on the train. But we made it!

We got into Paris, and took the subway to our hostel. When we went to check in though, they told us we couldn't check in until 4:00. So, no nap time yet! Tomorrow when we've gotten some sleep, we'll do more exploring. Today we went to a cafe for breakfast, walked around a little and saw some gardens. I love the wrought-iron balconies, the many cafes and the tree-lined sidewalks.

I'll try to keep updates, although the pictures will have to wait. But for now, I need to get some zzz's!

Jess and I at St. Margaret's church in London.

Learning the London Underground

Our tube stop in London and our metro stop in Paris.

Quick stop at Platform 9 3/4

No exit signs here.

Spending a day in Paris... with all our stuff.

In Le Jardin des Plantes