Well it's sure taken me long enough to get to this last entry. As you can probably tell, things have been pretty busy since I returned. So after I finished my program, I took the train to London to meet up with Alex and then we proceeded to Heathrow and flew to Rome. Since I already talked about Rome earlier in my blog, I'm not going to recount everything I did, but rather just discuss the new things. We stayed in a hotel near Termini Station, which was nice because both of the metro lines met up there and so it was easier to get around (although still not nearly as easy as Paris and London). Unfortunately it was very hot and so that zapped our energy and made for shorter days (which was OK, it was a little more relaxing =)). We did pretty much the same things I did with my family, except we also went to the Roman National Museums. The first two we went to were pretty small and underwhelming, but the last two were very nice. I particularly liked the frescos and mosaics, while Alex was particularly fond of the coin collection.
We spent about 4 days in Rome and then went to Florence for 2 days. It was nice getting to go to Florence again, because when we went on my cruise, we only got to stay there for 4 hours and that wasn't nearly enough time. We visited the Uffizi and Academia museums, which were both very impressive. The Uffizi was mostly just one floor, but it was HUGE. From Florence, we took an overnight train to Paris.
Paris was great and I know this sounds stereotypical, but I really love the Eiffel Tower. On Sunday when we got there, we went to the Catacombs and randomly saw one of our friends there from UCLA (Michael Bright!). We then went over to the Eiffel Tower and walked up to the 2nd level, which had an amazing view. We stayed there until the evening and saw the magical light show on the Eiffel Tower which happens on the hour for about 5 minutes. For the rest of our time there we bought a 4 day Paris Museum Pass, which was nice because we got to cut a lot of lines and didn't have to worry about buying tickets in advance. We went to see Notre Dame and walked up in the towers while I sang "The Bells of Notre Dame" the whole time =). We also saw St. Chapelle, the Pantheon, and the Pompidou (a modern art museum). The Pompidou was really neat and I wish we'd had more time to look around. On Tuesday, we first spent a good amount of time at the Musee d'Orsay. We also saw Napoleon's tomb, walked around a bit, and sat in front of the Eiffel Tower again (because I liked it so much =)). On Wednesday we started the day by climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, then walked down the Champs Elysees, then spent the remainder of the day in the Louvre. On Thursday we went to Versailles, which has amazingly vast gardens that I really enjoyed wandering through. On Friday, we took the Eurostar to London, spent the rest of the day in London, and flew home the next day.
Overall it was a great trip, but very exhausting. I jumped into an all day staff meeting for band the next day, followed by 10 days of band camp. Thankfully things have calmed down a little bit now. Thanks for reading my blog and make sure to look at my photos (they're mostly on Alex's facebook)!
Album 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333561344508.357768.630119507&type=1&l=1a2ee0987e
Album 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333583709508.357773.630119507&type=1&l=38f39655c7
Album 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342499679508.359577.630119507&type=1&l=1bb56a3218
Album 4: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342537289508.359581.630119507&type=1&l=6c211b0185
Album 5: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342756559508.359613.630119507&type=1&l=7e28c04071
Album 6: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342791624508.359619.630119507&type=1&l=910eaa9bc7
We spent about 4 days in Rome and then went to Florence for 2 days. It was nice getting to go to Florence again, because when we went on my cruise, we only got to stay there for 4 hours and that wasn't nearly enough time. We visited the Uffizi and Academia museums, which were both very impressive. The Uffizi was mostly just one floor, but it was HUGE. From Florence, we took an overnight train to Paris.
Paris was great and I know this sounds stereotypical, but I really love the Eiffel Tower. On Sunday when we got there, we went to the Catacombs and randomly saw one of our friends there from UCLA (Michael Bright!). We then went over to the Eiffel Tower and walked up to the 2nd level, which had an amazing view. We stayed there until the evening and saw the magical light show on the Eiffel Tower which happens on the hour for about 5 minutes. For the rest of our time there we bought a 4 day Paris Museum Pass, which was nice because we got to cut a lot of lines and didn't have to worry about buying tickets in advance. We went to see Notre Dame and walked up in the towers while I sang "The Bells of Notre Dame" the whole time =). We also saw St. Chapelle, the Pantheon, and the Pompidou (a modern art museum). The Pompidou was really neat and I wish we'd had more time to look around. On Tuesday, we first spent a good amount of time at the Musee d'Orsay. We also saw Napoleon's tomb, walked around a bit, and sat in front of the Eiffel Tower again (because I liked it so much =)). On Wednesday we started the day by climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, then walked down the Champs Elysees, then spent the remainder of the day in the Louvre. On Thursday we went to Versailles, which has amazingly vast gardens that I really enjoyed wandering through. On Friday, we took the Eurostar to London, spent the rest of the day in London, and flew home the next day.
Overall it was a great trip, but very exhausting. I jumped into an all day staff meeting for band the next day, followed by 10 days of band camp. Thankfully things have calmed down a little bit now. Thanks for reading my blog and make sure to look at my photos (they're mostly on Alex's facebook)!
Album 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333561344508.357768.630119507&type=1&l=1a2ee0987e
Album 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333583709508.357773.630119507&type=1&l=38f39655c7
Album 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342499679508.359577.630119507&type=1&l=1bb56a3218
Album 4: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342537289508.359581.630119507&type=1&l=6c211b0185
Album 5: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342756559508.359613.630119507&type=1&l=7e28c04071
Album 6: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150342791624508.359619.630119507&type=1&l=910eaa9bc7
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