Paris - 24 hours

Wednesday

2 March 2011

5:15am Holly offers our departing prayer in the front hall. Picture four very hyper girls who are super excited about going to PARIS!!!!

5:25am We shiver outside the tube station waiting for it to open at 5:30. Why didn’t we leave five minutes later??

5:33am We watch an entertaining discussion between a London man and the tube worker opening the gate.

Man: Oh, take your time. I’m just waiting.

Worker: You in a hurry? We’re opening when we always open.

Man: No, the tube opens at 5:30. That is when every station opens.

Worker: This station is licensed to open at 5:33. It is 5:33. Look at the clock.

Man: Your colleagues open at 5:30 every #%!$ morning!

Worker: Maybe for you they do…

6:20am Our passports are stamped at the London St. Pancras Int’l Train Station! We bought Paris metro passes from the concierge and got euros from an ATM

6:53am We have all suddenly realized how very little sleep we got the night before and four hyper girls turn into four sleep-deprived young women trying to find the traincars so we can get two more hours of sleep… I finally found my seat, sat down, and… wanted to fall asleep. But didn’t. Because this handsome young French businessman sitting beside me wanted to talk to me about going to Paris. Oh the sacrifices a girl makes… We chatted for an hour and a half until he pulled out his i-phone to check his email. All it took was a five minute lull in conversation and I was gone.

Just so you know, the Eurostar trains have the best headrests for sleeping EVER.

<Skipping one hour ahead to Paris time>

10:25 am I wake up as we pull into the train station. My new French friend offers to show me to the metro and I happily took him up on the offer! Considering my group assignment was to figure out the metro system, I considered this very convenient. ;) My friend and I met up with Holly, Michelle, and Emily outside the train and we all walked to the metro. Everything we were told about the metro was true. It was crowded, dirty, stinky, fast, efficient, and not too terribly confusing.

11:00 am I walked out of the metro to feel Paris Sunshine on my face. Aahhhh… It felt so good. Across the river was Notre Dame cathedral in the middle of the bustling city. Michelle quickly took charge – her assignment was to figure out our river cruise. She took us straight to the dock where we bought tickets for the “BatoBus,” a hop-on, hop-off river cruise. Cruising down the river Seine was like a dream. I just stood out on the deck and felt the sun on my face. It was 45 degrees and a beautiful day. And I was in Paris.

Our boat stopped at lots of attractions throughout the day including the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Hotel de Ville, Champs-Elysees, the Eiffel tower, St Germain-des-pres, and Notre Dame. One of our favorite stops was the Louvre. I knew it was a huge art museum, but little did I know...

Apparently, the Louvre was formerly a Royal palace, and boy do the French know how to build a palace! This made me double sad we didn’t have time to see Versailles. But, anyway, the Louvre was amazingly large and ornate and beautiful. Set up in three wings around vast gardens, its magnificence really stunned me. We took tons of pictures and just loved taking in the scenery.

We enjoyed just walking around at the different ports and I really just loved cruising down the Seine river and taking in the city views.

4:00pm We had travelled full-circle and made it back to Notre Dame where we got the best crepes ever. Really. They were amazing. I wish I could go back just for the crepes. There were four or five little crepe shops just all in a row on a street beside Notre Dame. My crepe was stuffed with slices of ham and melted cheese and it was basically one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. Really. We just stood by the cafes, 20 feet from Notre Dame, and ate our crepes while admiring the gargoyles and gothic architecture – cool, huh?

5:00pm Popped out of the metro in front of the Eiffel Tower ahead of our 5:30 ticket reservation. I couldn’t see it immediately, but as we turned the corner around the building in front of us, it suddenly loomed over me. The Eiffel tower was bigger than I ever dreamed. I feel like I’m saying that about everything in Paris. Basically, I thought Disney World was magical until I got to Paris.

As we walked up to the tower, we passed row after row of young salesmen all with little mats covered with little Eiffel towers they were trying desperately to sell to us. I was eye-ing one of the little towers when suddenly every salesman in the area starting sprinting! Behind were three policeman on bikes. It was basically one of the funniest things I have ever seen. It was like a game of cat and mouse. The policemen didn’t actually try to catch them, just scare them off. Apparently the safe zone was over the bridge or in the grass beyond the tower. Each salesman had handles on either side of his little blanket so he could just pick it up like a bag at any moment. And as soon as the policeman came back, they would just scatter again. I’ve never seen anything like it.

5:30pm Our reservations didn’t get us very far into the line. It still ended up taking us almost an hour to get into the elevator to the top.

It was freezing and the wind was blowing hard, but the view was amazing. We got up to the top right around sundown and we got to watch all the city lights go on. It was so cool to watch.

8:00pm All four of us are huddled around a map in a metro station trying to figure out which road our hotel is on. We finally found it and checked in. After a day full of walking and climbing stairs, finding out our room was on the third floor of practically vertical stairs was like death. We finally embraced our fate and as we crawled up the stairs, dear Holly, who is not exactly the most cheerful in the group, seemed to muster every particle of enthusiasm left in her being and let out a chipper “I LOVE Stairs!!!” I couldn’t stand it and just burst out laughing. This made it ten times harder and by the time we reached the top our legs and sides were aching and it took about five minutes to get the door unlocked.

8:30pm We finally convince ourselves to leave our hotel room.

9:00pm Pictures of the Arc de Triomphe! Pretty awesome, but not nearly as cool as the Eiffel Tower. On our way out of the Arc de Triomphe and starting down the Champs-Elysees, we argued about whether to combine our initials (Holly, Taylor, Emily, and Michelle) into Team THEM, Team METH, or Team T-HEM. Negotiations continue.

(“There’s no I in Team!” “No, but there is a ME when you move the letters around.”)

10:00pm We finally give up on finding crepes and go to a little chain sandwich shop called Pomme de Pain. I got a petite chocolat chaud (small hot chocolate), croissant, pain du chocolat (pastry w/ choc in the middle), and a framboises fromage (delicious yogurt/cheese thing with berries). Yes, that was my dinner. Don’t make fun. I was only in Paris for two days.

11:00pm Crash in the hotel. Out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Would you pass the gravy, Harry?

Ha! I’m finally going to be caught up! Look at me go!

            Yesterday we took a bus to Oxford. Visiting Oxford was pretty fun. We visited the Ashmolean Museum, the first public museum in England, and the Eagle & Child pub, where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and other writers frequently visited to write and converse. We also visited two of Oxford University’s colleges: Magdelen and ChristChurch.

            Magdelen College (pronounced Maudlin) was founded in the 15^th century and has been the birthplace of many a great idea. Among its alumni are C.S. Lewis, Stephen Breyer, P.G. Wodehouse, and Oscar Wilde.

            There was exactly one thing I wanted to see at ChristChurch College: the Great Hall. The Great Hall is where the students eat their meals. It also happens to be where they filmed Daniel Radcliffe eating several of his meals as Harry Potter. I took tons of pictures, but the lighting was just horrid. Here are a couple:

            After the ChristChurch Hall, I would have to say my favorite spot in Oxford would be the covered market. We found a cake decorating shop where they decorate all the cakes by the shop windows so you can watch! It was soooo cool. My favorite cake would have to be the royal wedding:

            Michelle and I were so enthralled that we simply had to go back after lunch and buy chocolate cupcakes – which, by the way, not only looked amazing, but tasted wonderful. J

            Today I had art class in the morning and then visited the John Wesley home, chapel, and Methodist Museum on a Religion class assignment. The museum guides offered to show us the house and Emily and I got a private tour! It was so cool. It was a fairly small townhouse, though I’m sure it was very well-to-do in 1780. A couple interesting things I learned about John Wesley:

·         He required any travelling preachers or other guests in his home to be in bed by 9 so they could attend his morning service at 6am.

·         Off of his bedroom was a five foot square prayer room where he would study and pray every morning. To this day, it is referred to as the Power House of Methodism. As I stood in the room, it really did seem to have a special spirit there.

·         John Wesley did not drink tea, as he considered it unhealthy, and encouraged his followers to only drink herbal tea. I thought this was a very interesting link to Mormonism.

·         He continued preaching up until a week before his death at the age of 87.

            John Wesley was a good, honest man who dedicated his life to God. Latter-day Saints can thank Wesley, Martin Luther, and many other reformers for paving a way for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be restored to the earth.

Camden Market

(19 Feb 2011)

            Saturday we went to Camden Market! It was HUGE!!! Seriously, at one point Michelle and I realized that we had no idea which way the tube station was. There were indoor shops and outdoor shops and some that were in between. Sometimes I would look up and see a ceiling and realize, “Oh! I’m in a building now.” And then two minutes later I would walk across to another shop and feel raindrops on my way. It was kind of confusing. Everything was so tight together, too, I could never tell from which direction I had came. If you saw something you liked, you bought it. You never knew if you would be able to find that place again! I found cute headbands, a blouse, and a couple other souvenirs.

            I would say about a third of Camden market was food – tons and tons of delicious food. There were foods from China, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, West Africa, Spain, India, and the Middle East. Over the course of four hours, I tried chocolate covered strawberries, a lemon and sugar crepe, fried plantain, a hazel cookie, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a West African Potato Stew. It was all amazing. I think I want to go back next week just for the food.

Hampton Court Palace

(18 Feb 2011)

            On Friday we saw Hampton Court, the palace of Henry VIII. Yes, he’s the one who had 6 wives. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

            What I really liked about Hampton Court, though, was the way it presented the young Henry VIII. What few people realize is that Henry VIII was married to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, for over 20 years before deciding that he needed a new, younger queen to give him a male heir. Also, for those 20 years they were a relatively happy royal couple. Katherine had lived in England since she married Henry’s older brother Arthur at the age of 14? and she ruled as regent when Henry was off fighting wars. He depended on her. He trusted her. Henry doted on his daughter Mary when she was young and they seemed to be, for a long time, a rather ideal royal family. And then something snapped. Even after the divorce and Henry’s marriage with Anne Boleyn, Katherine maintained a remote palace in England after Henry returned to her the title of Dowager Princess of Wales from her six month marriage to Arthur. Katherine refused to recognize the divorce and considered herself the true Queen of England until her death at the age of 50.

            The palace has been used by a few other royals, such as Elizabeth I and William and Mary. It has been kept up beautifully and the gardens were lovely to walk through. As I walked on the paths, I imagined I was Princess Elizabeth (who was actually only allowed the title Lady by her father), walking the same grounds where her mother had walked. What a different world that was!

            Below is a picture of the court below Henry VIII ‘s window where (I believe) Anne Boleyn pleaded for her life:

The London Temple

(16 Feb 2011)

            On Wednesday I got to visit the LDS London England Temple. Our temples are very different from the chapels where we hold Sunday Services. The temple is a special, holy place where sacred services are held and only worthy members of the church may enter. (To learn more about temples, visit mormon.org)

            We had a really wonderful time at the temple. There were about 30 of us there, mainly sisters, and we sat and sang hymns intermittently for about two hours while we were in the holding room. My voice got kind of tired, but it was really beautiful and invited the spirit. The temple workers loved it and kept coming by to “make requests.” One of the girls asked if we could sing America the Beautiful. We kind of laughed, but I guess the church in England uses the same hymnbooks as the church in America because there it was in the back of the book! We loved singing America the Beautiful in the temple. It reminded us of home and some of the girls started to tear up. It was so special to be able to sing a song of our homeland in one of our most holy places on the other side of the world. I’m sure it would have been a similar feeling for English members to sing God Save the Queen in a temple in America. I think it is a testament of a worldwide church where patriotism can go hand in hand with religion.

            I love England. I love meeting all the members of our church here and seeing how they worship. I love learning about the missionaries who came here to establish a strong branch of the church in a special land. But I love America more. America is my home and it always will be. I think there is something so wonderful about being able to be devoted to your homeland and still be devoted to the truth of a world-wide church. The Church is true in America. The Church is true in England. It is true all over the world.