Lucas. London. Life.: So it begins

Alright! I am finally ready to start telling the story of the last couple weeks. Sorry for the delay (it's been a strange/hectic week) but I am ready to start. Before I start I just want to say thank you so much for that guide book! It was so so so useful everywhere we went. Not only did it save us from having to hold up giant maps like extreme tourists, but it also gave some great ideas about things to do. I'll be sure to note that each time.

Let me introduce some of the characters in our story before I begin as they will likely come up often:

Karen (from the block) - my mother, born and raised in the Bronx

Katie - BFF from Penn, born and raised in Philadelphia, going to King's College this fall

Garrett - other BFF from Penn, born and raised in Philadelphia, going to Goldsmith's College this fall

Britney - Pop princess, born and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, not going to college this fall or ever

Gaga - fellow Pop princess, caught in a bad romance, may go to college just to surprise people

Chapter 1: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

So I hardly the slept the night of the 11th because I was way too excited for London. I felt like I have been waiting for it for years! Karen doesn't take any chances so we left for the airport at 11 am. My flight wasn't until 7:30 so we were being pretty generous but we still thought there might be traffic. Naturally, we didn't encounter one minute of traffic and were at the airport by 2:30. I said goodbye to my bags (and Karen) and spent the next few hours going through that book looking for things to do. Our flight was delayed four hours and by the time we left it was almost midnight.

So I don't know if any of you have taken an overnight flight anywhere but let me just say, no sleep gets accomplished. That was the most uncomfortable 7 hours of attempted, unsuccessful sleep of my life. I maybe was asleep for 30 minutes. But hey, they gave us dinner and breakfast so what's not to like? I've learned to appreciate the value of food and money this last week.

When we finally arrived in London it was 11 am, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Katie and Garrett are obviously thrilled with the flight:

Loving life

I was pretty frightened of customs, but it turned out to be a piece of cake. It was actually kind of disconcerting how little he wanted to check. He didn't even ask for my offer letter! I guess I am not that threatening looking, but still, I could be dangerous.

Anyway, we finally got out of Heathrow and were on our way to my friend Hilary's house to drop off our stuff. 30 minutes and 60 pounds later, we were in front of 86 Palace Gardens Terrace. We left our stuff at her house and went for a little walk through Kensington. We got to see a little bit of Kensington Gardens, but we were far too tired to walk much further. Here are the few pictures we took that day:

Kensington Palace - future home

random flower shop

So after a few hours of tired strolling, it was time to go to Paris. We made our way to St. Pancras International (first tube ride - thanks for that oyster card Lindsay!)

St. Pancras - this is where I ate my first of many baguettes this trip

...and boarded a train to Paris. A sleepy two hours, we were in the City of Lights! We walked to our hostel (Peace & Love - I know, it sounds like a haven for hippies but everyone was actually pretty normal) and took a little stroll around. We finally called it a night after looking around Canal St. Martin. Shockingly, our room was not terribly big but the purple color was pleasing to the eyes:

so spacious

there's almost room for all three of us to stand!

Chapter 2: Paris Day One - Mange. Mange. Mange.

After our exhausting day Monday, we slept in until about 1 on Tuesday. We took out our handy guide book and followed it right into the heart of Paris. Every building was magnificent - I actually just wanted to take pictures of all of them. The first sight we came across was the Hotel De Ville, which I believe is the City Hall of Paris and right across the Seine from the Notre Dame:

a little better than Philly's city hall

This building was absolutely stunning. We continued our walk across the Seine to the Notre Dame

Me + Seine= love my life

us in front of the Notre Dame!

me inside the Notre Dame. NBD.

i don't know this man

unbelievable

Next was the Notre Dane which was also absolutely stunning. It was amazing being in all of these places that I had read so much about. The books never do them justice. The artwork, the architecture, just the feel inside the place was unreal. We left the Notre Dame and walked towards the Louvre. Along the way we stopped for a crepe. O.M.G. I got a nutella and coconut crepe. It was absolutely the most delicious crepe I have ever had. I mean, I love the creperie and all, but this was heaven on earth.

ECSTASY

After the deliciousness that was this crepe, we continued onto the Louvre. I could not believe how giant and magnificent it was. And someone used to live there! I don't know how you could ever find anything there.

need to find me a place like this

gorgeous

From here we decided to go to the Arc de Triomphe. We figured since we could see it, it probably wasn't too far. INCORRECT. It took us forever to get there. We did have a nice stroll down the Champs Elysee though. Along the way we ran into one of those street performers dressed as various things. Me, being me, didn't realize that this was a real person. Why I thought there was a statue of an Egyptian in the middle of Paris I may never understand. Either way I got a fantastic picture!