skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Day 12-
On Monday, we woke up early and ventured to the Eiffel tower to try to beat the crowds. It was already too late for that but we found a place to grab some breakfast anyways and ate on the lawn. We decided it was imperative to have our photos taken in front of the tower, and while we were snapping away, a small man tried to sneak away with our satchel. It was our one and only "pick-pocketing" type experience while we were in Europe and since he didn't actually get away with anything, we thought it was actually rather funny.
After breakfast, we went in search of the best cup of hot chocolate, according to one of our waitresses in London. It was near the Arc de Triomphe, which is a lovely architectural masterpiece that sits in the middle of a roundabout on quite a busy street. We talked about how interesting it would be to drive by such a beautiful, historic monument on your way to work every day.
We made our way back to the Louvre, since we had only seen the outside when we were with Vanessa and Remi. We covered as much ground as we could, making sure to see some of the most famous paintings housed there. It was a bit like herding cattle when we got to the Mona Lisa but we made it. We thought it a bit odd that in a massive museum full of some of the world's greatest art, this one tiny painting draws so much attention compared to the rest. We joined the herd anyways.
For supper, we dined with our hosts at one of their favorite restaurants and ordered what they recommended. We trusted their judgement wholeheartedly since our two favorite meals in Paris were both the home cooked meals they shared with us. We walked home through the streets at night, hand-in-hand, and laughed with our instant kindreds-- a magical evening and our last in Paris.
Day 9:
We headed back to London, just in time to catch a train to Paris. When booking our travel arrangements in advance, we tried to take the most timely and cost-effective routes between each destination. The Eurostar, the train that travels between London and Paris, was quite pricey and we discovered why: this high-speed train travels under the English channel. We were somewhat disappointed and somewhat relieved to find that it was really not much different than any other train ride. When we arrived in Paris, we were welcomed into Vanessa and Remi's home like we were old friends. After asking for restaurant recommendations, they insisted that we join them for supper. Remi had prepared a classic french dish that was similar to a quiche but oh so much tastier! Since most of our day had been spent travelling, we decided to bundle up and take an evening stroll to the Notre Dame, just a few blocks away.
Day 10:
Our new friends took the day off to show us some of their favorite places in Paris. We started the day by visiting the Sacre-Couvre, where they showed us the best view from a VERY long staircase to the side of the building. We then walked around Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement, and stopped for the most filling salads on a sunny outdoor patio of a darling cafe. They showed us what they considered to be the most picturesque street in Paris, a place where they dreamed of one day buying a home. Vanessa is originally from Italy and she said the most authentic gelato in Paris can be found at Grom, and while we were waiting in the unfailing long line, it began pouring rain. We shared an umbrella while we made our way to the Place de Vosges, the oldest planned square in the Marais district of Paris and the rain had already subsided by the time we arrived. We pulled up chairs so we could kick up our feet up around the fountain. Our final stop before heading home was the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was only a few blocks from their flat. Remi teased us all day about taking candid (or with his French accent-- "can-deed") photos but we're so thankful for these Parisian friends of ours and the memories we made with them that day. It was such a welcomed recess from staring at maps for an entire day. Merci beaucoup!
Day 8:
We took a bus from London to Oxford the next morning and got to see some of the English countryside along the way. Ryan had downloaded a self-guided walking tour of the significant C.S. Lewis landmarks in Oxford so we set about to see as much of them as we could. We started with lunch at the White Horse, where Lewis often met with his friends for a beer. We made our way past the house on Mansfield Road where Lewis spent his very first night in Oxford in December 1916. The best part about this tour is that in between each notable place was streets filled with the "fabled cluster of spires and towers". We arrived at Magdalen College and while we were deciding if we should pay the entrance fee, we watched the punts along the River Cherwell and walked through the Botanic Gardens. We made up our minds that it was worth the admission price and were absolutely blown away by what we saw inside. The campus was like no college we had ever seen, with stunning architecture everywhere you looked. We walked a ways on Addison's Walk and watched the deer frolic in the protected reserve, but probably our very favorite was seeing the windows of the room where Lewis resided while he worked as a Fellow there; the very room he speaks of in the following excerpt:
“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England.” -C.S. Lewis
We finished the day strolling along Longwall Street and High Street, where we saw the Eastgate Hotel, a favorite meeting spot for Lewis and Tolkien.We found an organic restaurant called The Rose and when we finished supper, we were forced to take an overpriced, but quintessentially English, cab ride home when we realized the buses were no longer running.
