I left off the week before our GIS week (Guided Independent Study .. basically a Spring Break .. before our 3 week long Spring Break? .. I'm not complaining). We had booked Paris and a couple days before the break we decided to go to Prague as well! Being able to spontaneously plan a trip days before you want to leave is yet another reason why I am so in love with Europe.
But before that! Earlier that week on Wednesday I went to see a show ... by myself ... whatever I'm used to it. Anyways, I saw Backbeat, which is a show about Stu Sutcliffe and the beginning of the Beatles. It was SO good! Sadly it was closing that Saturday - which of course meant I had to see it one more time. Heather wanted to see it too, so we got some cheap seats to the matinee of the closing day. The show is so good and the music is of course, amazing! After the show they did an encore of about 4 different Beatles songs which were so good to sing and dance along with! I loved it.
That Sunday, we woke up extra early to get to our coach bus to ride to the airport. Our flight was at 11AM, but our starting bus trip was at 8 .. we got there on time and everything and the flight went great! We got into Prague in the later afternoon, checked in our hostel and walked around the area. There were so many shops and a big area that reminded me of a smaller version of Times Square. It was so nice! We didn't venture very far that day cause we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hostel pretty early, turned down the hostel owner for drinks (guh), and got to bed.
The next day we woke up and began walking ... and kept walking .. We didn't know how to use the transportation so we just walked everywhere, which was actually better to be able to see the whole city. We walked up to Old Town Square which is the main city center of Prague. There were a lot of people taking pictures and hanging out, as well as locals grilling out in the middle selling their food. We stopped in a little pizzeria which was so so so good! And cheap! Did I mention that 1 British Pound is equal to 29 of the Czech Koruna? It's pretty amazing. After this, we headed to St. Charles Bridge, which is lined with statues as well as marketers selling paintings, jewelry, etc. It was all very nice, and the view from the bridge was great! When we got to the other side (Old Town), we walked to the Lennon wall, which is basically a wall filled with graffiti; it was so pretty, and we were able to sign the wall too! We kept walking, passsed the love padlocks (couples link a lock onto a fence to 'signify their love'), went through a little park with some weird, weird statues, and made it to another main street. We stopped in a little cafe to get some hot chocolate which turned out to be some delicious hot chocolate/pudding. It was SO good! We made our loong way back to our hostel after this trip, to get ready to go out for a bit. We walked up the streets to a bar called 'Double Trouble' .. I know. It was down some stairs - the look kind of reminded me of the Cavern Club which is always good .. but there were maybe 15 people there. We sat down for a little while, met/talked/danced with some crazy Italians and then decided to call it a night.
The next day we woke up and headed out again. We went across the bridge again to Petrin Hill, which is a huge hill with a lot of fun things up at the top. We decided we were so good at walking that we wanted to skip the tram ride up and walk instead .... which was probably a few miles .. uphill the whole way. It was so tiring but we made it! And got some great views of the city while we were at it, so it wasn't horrible. At the top they had a replica Eiffel Tower, a little cafe, and a mirror maze which was small but so fun! We got some tasty pastries at the cafe and decided to head down .. on the tram. We figured since we walked the whole way up we could ride down. It was almost dark by the time we got down, so we headed home to get ready for the night. We were doing a pub crawl that night, and it was our first so we were real excited. We met up with the organizers at Old Town Square where they took us to their 'own bar' which was tucked on the corner of a church in a basement .. not creepy at all. It was fun when we got down there, though! There were about 15 people there .. people from Belgium, Australia, South America, England, etc. Of course we were the only Americans, which the Australians loved to make fun of. American impressions are always hilarious though, so Heather and I had a great time with it. We went to about 4 different bars with everyone that night and it was so fun .. since there were so few of us that night we all stuck together and hung out which was nice! Needless to say, it was a great night to end our stay in Prague!
The next day was our flight home and we were exhausted! Thursday, though, we had our Art and Society class bright and early at 9AM, which I was not happy about. But we went, and actually visited the War Museum, which was my favorite visit thus far. After class we came back to our flat and fell asleep sooo fast! We woke up and finished some homework and papers we needed to get done before Paris.
Friday we woke up early againnnnn to catch our train to Paris! This was my first train ride ever, so I was pretty excited. They had headrests, delicious food, and lots of room for stretching out. It was not a bad ride! We got into Paris around noon and checked into our hotel, which was right in view of the Eiffel Tower! Once we checked in, we left right away - we were so eager to get to the tower. It was about a 10-15 minute walk which was not bad, and very easy - we basically just walked towards it. When we got to it, I really couldn't do anything but stare. It was so massive and just amazing. Really, nothing like I've ever seen. And there were SO many people around it! The lines to go up it were insanely long, so we skipped out on that. There were vendors, little gift shops, etc. along the bottom. It was such a cute place! We walked up to another area where people crowded to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower from a distance. We made our way from here to the Champs Elysee which was a busy, andexpensive, street. We stopped in a little place for lunch and sat right in the big windows that they had opened up. The lunch was delicious and it didn't drive my wallet in a hole too much. From there, we walked down the street and made our way over to the Louvre. We passed a very cute area with fountains and chairs to lounge in, so of course we had to get some crepes and relax for a little bit. When we got to the Louvre, we took pictures, hung around, and saw that we were able to get in for free as students after 6PM. It was only an hour away, so we walked around a bit until we were able to get in to see the Mona Lisa! When we got to the painting, it looked as if there was a celebrity around. There was a crowd of people pushed up against a rope taking pictures of her. All for this little painting! It was very cool to see though - she was a bit smaller than I thought, but I was still impressed. After walking around for a bit longer inside, we decided to head out and get back to our hotel.
The next day we woke up and headed out to find an adorable market right outside of our hotel! We got some pastries for breakfast there and walked around, talking to the different French vendors. We were planning on going to some other markets up north, but we unfortunately couldn't walk to these, so we took the metro, which is the most inconvenient metro system I have ridden (I mean.. besides that I have really only ridden the London tube ... but still). We finally made it to the markets, which were kind of in ghetto France, but everything was very cheap and it was amazing! Heather and I both splurged on some shoes, but they were only 10 Euros! After getting a few other cute things, we headed towards the Sacre Coeur. The building was beautiful, but atmosphere was even better. There was music, people singing and dancing, and even a puppet show. The view was incredible as well. That was probably my favorite place that we went in Paris. It was great. We walked down the the village below where we were stopped by some sweet Africans who conned us into letting them make us some bracelets and looking for some donations. I didn't mind because they were so nice to us and the bracelets were a cute little souvenir. We walked down into the village and stopped in a restaurant for some sandwiches. These sandwiches were amazing - ham on the inside and the cheese was baked on top of the bread? It was so different but SO delicious! We also split some chocolate mousse dessert which I was completely fine with. That was the best meal I have had in Paris and maybe since I've been here. But I have had a lot of great meals. After walking around a bit more and seeing the notorious Moulin Rouge, we headed back to see the Notre Dame! It was so pretty, but kind of reminded me of Westminster Abbey. We were only there for a couple of minutes because we wanted to try and make it to the Eiffel Tower at the top of the hour to see it sparkle. We raced on the metro and literally made it back to the Eiffel Tower at 8:05. Great, right? We walked around there for the next hour waiting to see it sparkle, which was worth it because it was absolutely beautiful.
Sadly, the next day was the end of our week of travels. We got on the train and headed back home to London, but at this time we were almost so ready to because of how on-the-go we had been the whole week. I think as soon as we walked into our flat we collapsed in our beds and didn't get out until the next morning.
I'm actually pretty impressed with myself that I took that photo..
The next week was just boring classes, but on Thursday in my theatre class, we took a tour of the National Theatre. We were walked through backstage to see the different sets and props and it was very cool to do! Especially after taking my stagecraft class, it was nice to see these things I was so familiar with again. Besides that, the week was full of anticipation because my dad came on Friday! I haven't seen any bit of home for the last two months, so it was so nice to spend the weekend with him!! Friday he got in and we went out to dinner at some little Italian place. It was deliccccious! We went back to the hotel after that which was super nice. My dad has so many Marriott points so we could go into the executive lounge for free food and drinks! The next morning we woke up to go to the Tckts booth for a discounted show that night! We decided to see We Will Rock You, and got some seats about 8 rows back. We didn't know what to do during the day, so we walked around some theatres to see if we could get any seats for a matinee show. My dad really wanted to see Les Miserables and was set on it for some reason, as I was suggesting Mamma Mia and other shows that were cheaper. But he really wanted to see it so I didn't mind at all! For some amazing reason we got seats in the center 5th row - we really couldn't have had better seats. I really can't say enough about this show either. I always knew it was one of those 'classics' that I had to see as a theatre lover, but I was completely blown away. The show was absolutely incredible. One of the best shows I have ever seen. And the lighting/set design was seriously some of the best, and I don't normally notice/comment on it. The effects were amazing. And the cast was apparently an amazing cast, which I didn't realize until I looked at them when I got home. But now I'm so in love with them and I need to see it again. After this amaaaazing show, Dad and I got some dinner and headed to We Will Rock You. I'm not really sure what to say about this show... the music was good? The storyline was the worst I have ever seen, and the show was just a big mess. And it's been open for 10 year. I'm not really sure what other reason this could be except for the fact the Queen is from here. I don't even want to explain why this show is so bad, but I'll just leave it at the fact that it takes place in the future and Earth is the 'iPlanet' and they are in the Internet Gaga phase trying to get rid of rock and roll forever? I don't really know. But the encore was good! The show ... was .. not.
Saturday night we went back to the hotel late and fell asleep, but not before I bought us some tickets to the matinee of Jersey Boys! I had to. We woke up and went out to lunch at a cute diner right by the theatre, and then saw the show which I always absolutely love. It is one of my favorite shows! I had a migraine during and after the show, so we went back to the hotel after and just relaxed the rest of the night.
Although we saw some good theatre and some not so good theatre this week, it really brought me back to how much I actually love it, and how excited I am to work in this area ... hopefully! I can't wait to start looking for some more internships and plan for what to do after I graduate! This is my favorite business in the world. Let's just hope I can get into it in Europe rather than America!
My Dad had to leave really early this morning for Holland though, which was a bummer. It was such a quick weekend, but he comes back in a month with my Mom with I can't wait for! And HOLLY comes on Friday! HOLLY COMES TO LONDON ON FRIDAY. Is this real? I don't think I'm going to actually believe this until I see her in the airport here that morning .. which I might cry for. I can't wait I am SO incredibly excited. Not to mention on Saturday we are off to my favorite place in the world - Liverpool! Couldn't be more excited for this to happen. Just have to get through this week!