I'm off to see the wizard...

[skibum515]

Ok, Check in day 2 (or 3?) we came to our new hostel yesterday. it's pretty clean and everyone is really friendly. Our roommate last night was from S. Africa. She was really cool and interesting to talk to. It really made me realize how similar our countries are. It's neat to meet different people and find out the similarities that connect us rather than the differences that seperate us.

Today we went to the Tower of London. Wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but still worth a look. We also walked around and took pictures of Parliment and Westminster Abbey. We went to Churchill's war room museum which ended up being extraordinarily neat to see. If anyone comes to London and has an interest in WWII, I would highly reccommend it.

[Kristie]

awww.. you didn't like the tower of london that much? was it not gory enuff? i thought just the fact that that's where they killed everyone royalty just for the sheer heck of it was more than enuff for me! altho the crown room was pretty cheesy with "stay in the queue"....hahaha we haven't seen westminister abbey yet and will put churchills museum on our list next time cuz dh is a major WWII buff now.

where ya off to next?

[skibum515]

hi all! we are in paris now, and the keys on the keyboard are all messed up, so forgive any typos!

we got here yesterday evening, and walked up 92 steps to get out of the mÈtro, and then another 200 to get to our hostel. when we got here we found out there was an easier way where we didn't have to walk so many steps.

today we tried to go to the louvre but they are closed on tuesdays, so we went to the eiffel tower and to the bastille monument. my french is squeeking us by, we managed to go to a hardware store and get a different converter for my camera charger with my french, but i couldn't manage to get us lunch without them giving us the english menu.

i don't know if it's the area we are staying in, but people let their dogs poop all over the sidewalk and don't pick it up!! it's pretty gross and unsanitary (in my biased american opinion).

tomorrow we plan to go to the louvre and notre dame.

any good places we should eat kristie

[Kristie]

nope, that's everywhere in France...they don't "pick up" and what they do is push all the trash and stuff to the curb and twice a week, street cleaners come buy and grab it all...

go to Cafe Du Marche on Rue Cler...you'll love the market/produce type atmosphere and they usually have the best Crepe's right there on that corner!!! it's also easy to go to the frommage next door, grab some cheese...go to the wine store down the street, grab a bottle of wine, corkscrew & find some glasses and picnic it on the tower gardens.

other than that, there's Cafe Bosquet that's on the right side of the eiffel tower.. a lot of american's go there though, so if you want to get away from all the tourists... Cafe Du Marche is ok for that. hmmmm I'll have to have doug comment on other restaurants we went to...

either way, a cafe creme (coffee with cream) is the same everywhere.. dang tasty, tasts like a frothy latte!!!!

Latin quarter is ok if your ok with the whole touristy type "ugly american" service...it's actually a great place to find food quickly. and if someone says Leon's has the best mussels, we didn't find that to the be case.. but they do serve the most mussels...if you can, stay away from the chain restaurants cuz the little mom & pop shops are the best.

Most parisians from what i've seen eat a baquette for lunch (yes, just a baguette) or a baguette sandwich...breakfast is typically croissant & cafe creme

did you go to the top of the eiffel tower? also, don't forget Arc De Triumph and definately do the 200-300 step climb.. good workout and you'll LOVE the view!!

ohhh.. and doug says if you need a break or nap, take it cuz otherwise you'll ruin your entire vaca with negativity! remmeber that europeans are NOT americans and an open mind is a MUST!!

[Kristie]

update: Cafe Le Bosquet is at corner of Rue Du Champs De Mars & Avenue Bosquet (right side of the eiffel tower)...

closest metro is e'cole militare

for Rue Cler area - closest metro is also E'cole militare

the lamb (agneau) is actually the best i've ever had and that's pretty much anywhere in the city!!

[skibum515]

We headed over to check out Cafe Le Bossquet, but it was a bit expensive since we weren't that hungry so we went to the bakery across the street and got a baguette and then down the street to the grocery store and picked up some cheese, jam and water and then went and had a picnic infront of the eiffel tower. It was romantic (or something like that...)It was a lot of fun and then we went on a minibus tour of the city at night, which was pretty cool.

Something else you guys should add to your "to see" list when you're in london, is Speaker's Corner. It's the North East corner of Hyde park, by Marble Arch (that's the tube stop) Every sunday people gather there to exercise their democratic right to free speech. It's like the lav come to life (before it was cleaned up). It was pretty entertaining, john and i spent half the morning there just listening to people rant and rave.

heading to vienna now, au revoir!

[Kristie]

we saw that when we were on the big double decker bus tour...it was a sunday too so it was neat to see.. next time, we'll stop and check out what's going on!!

yup, the cafe's are a bit more expensive than just getting a sangwich or baguette & a cup of coffee.

one thing to look into when you get into vienna is to look for the Gray Line bus tours.. they usually go to all the best spots and don't charge too much for a day trip.

[skibum515]

just got to vienna, we're meeting up with a guy from JC in a few mins, so we'll be sure to check out those tours later today or tomorrow