Final Post From Maman

This will be the final post from the special guest on Justin's blog, as I am returning to the US tomorrow.

These past three days have been remarkable. The things we have seen and done are experiences I will treasure in my memory and heart for the rest of my life. I send out thanks to my love ones that made this happen.

Picking up on the adventure, Tuesday was a day of following Justin while he worked doing tours. He left first thing in the AM with written instructions on how to meet up with him for his 4 hour tour. I was quite proud of myself as I left his apartment on my own, ordered and paid for a nutella and banana crepe, rode the metro myself, and met up with him at the Saint Michel fountain, where his tour started. Didn't get lost or anything!!

Next I walked along with Justin on his tour. He ended up with about 40+ people. It was great watching him again do his thing. All those hours spent with speech competitions and acting in plays in high school really helps this kid do his thing. I was introduced as the special guest, and several people came up to me and complimented on what a good guide Justin is. I agreed!!

So after a 4 hour tour, we took a break briefly. He had a work meeting near where the 6pm tour was going to start so I wandered in the shops and met up with him to walk another tour. This was the same Monmarte tour done on Sunday, but I really didn't want to hang out by myself, so I went along. More hill walking. The tour ended with taking 5 very nice guests out for a drink as part of the tour. Then we headed home, as we needed to be up at 5am to leave for London.

We arrived in London at Luton airport, and took the bus to Victoria Station, near our hotel near the heart of Westminister. Took about 90 minutes to get there as there is soooo much traffic, and crazy traffic. If you guys in Chicago think that is wild, try watching the traffic, going down the wrong side of the road, with bikes, taxis, buses, etc, all trying to navigate these crazy turns and streets. I could not even watch the bus driver as I was sure we would hit someone!! But we did not.

We met up with Justin's friend from Pekin, Whitney, who is schooling in London. We first went to Buchingham Palace, but just missed the changing of the guard. Whitney then joined us for fish and chips at a local pub. We walked (notice this word, it will be repeated often) to Westminister Abbey. Of note, across the street, in a square, there was some sort of non-violent protest going on. There were tons of cops standing around monitoring this, along with helicopters (these may have been news chopers). Kinda freaked me out a bit. But we went on into the Abbey, and followed the guided audio tour. Once again, I was amazed that I was actually in this facility. Saw lots of buried dignitaries, kings, queens, and learned a lot about Britain's monarch history. Then we actually took the tube (metro train) to tour the Tower of London. Saw the Crown Jewels, which was incredible to look act, actual crowns, and stuff they use for coronations. Spectacular gems. Once again, learned what this piece of history was all about with an audio tour. We left there and ate a bit in a outdoor cafe on the bank of the Thames. We walked across the Tower Bridge, and took loooooong stroll down the other side of the Thames. Saw the sky-line of the downtown area, the London Bridge (which still is NOT falling down), the Globe Theater (Shakespeare's landmark), and walked back across the Millenium Bridge, which is only for walking (no cars). We were headed now to the National Gallery. We tried to find a cab, however, it was rush hour, and none were available. Just as well since there were traffice jams all over. We were going to meet Sarah, Miranda, and Katie from the Paris gang, who also just happened to be in London. So with no cabs available, guess what we did? That's right, walked!!! A long, long time. We arrived, finally, after passing through some cool side streets with pubs and people just standing around, having a pint after work. Pretty interesting. We FINALLY arrived at the Gallery. Now, we looked at the actual website the night before, and it said it was open on Wednesdays till 9pm. Well, someone needs to update the times, because it was closed!! But we did have a good look at Trafalgar Square, which was cool to see. We could not reach the girls to see if they had made it there to meet us. So after a little rest, we wandered over to a souvenir shop. While there, the girls did call and they were at the square, near the center statue. Justin went to meet them while I finished up. It was not clear to me, though, if he was coming back or if I was supposed to go over to the square. I was a bit panicked because I did not want to get separated. Can't just call him on the cell phone. I wandered toward the square, worried about how I was going to find him until I noticed some goofy kid doing some kind of dance on the top area of the statue. Couldn't mistake those long legs. Then he jumped up on the lion statue and there was no doubt, it was Justin. We went with the girls to check out what the Buddha Bar looked like. Kinda an exclusive bar/restrurant. Too pricey for us, so we found a quaint little local pub called Hops, and had a few pints. Spent some Kodak moments with the kids in the phone booths, then parted company. Justin and I headed back to the river to view the London Eye, Parliment, and Big Ben at night. Another walk. Then more walking to get back to the hotel, with a small detour because London labels their street in the most ridiculous way. Sleep finally.

Today started with a traditional English breakfast, which is toast, a long sausage, bacon (which is actually thin ham), an egg, some sauteed mushrooms, and baked beans (yeah, didn't eat those, not normal breakfast food for me). Loaded our tired bodies onto the bus, back to the airport, then back to Paris. After a quick stop at the apartment, we headed to see more sites, which included the Centre Pompidou, the Marais (the gay-jewish district), the Place des Vosges where Victor Hugo lived, Bastille Square, and nice river walk, eating an awesome thing called a Falafel along the way (wow), and going to a Fondue place after, drinking wine there out of a baby bottle. Oh yes, that was different. We then headed for the Champs again to try to catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower when it sparkles at night. However, some joker artist decided to light the tower when he feels inspired, rather than at the top of the hour. We got almost to where we we wanted to me, and it was already sparkling, 10 minutes early. We were really bummed. We stood for a bit at the river, just looking at the tower, and very shortly, it did it's sparkly thing. Very cool to see. Glad the artist felt the need to do this again. I would tell him thanks if I knew who he was. Back on the metro for a ride home.

Other firsts foods:
9. Fish and chips in England
10. Falafel
11. Wine in a baby bottle
12. Cheese fondue
13. Shaved lamb sandwich (actually very good)


I am totally exhausted, and so is my tour guide. However, he has been so wonderful to take me to as many sites as he could while I was here. He sacrificed his social life and time to do this for me, and I will always be grateful for this time we have had together. I will return with lots of stories, pictures, and experiences in my memory, and hope this has enabled me to share some of my time here with you. Hopefully I can post some pictures on FaceBook when I return. I miss my husband, family, friends and dogs, but this was worth it.

Much love to all,

Maman