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Monday, 06 April 2009

Slacker

Alas, it has been a while since my last update. Sorry, I guess Norway is just so exciting. I will do my best to tell of everything I did these two weeks. Most of what I have done, though, has been hanging out with friends- not sightseeing or anything like the previous month.
I think it would be about impossible to recount everything day for day so I am just going to make an attempt at randomly talking about events that happened in really no ordered way at all. So... Highlights....
One of the new and fun experiences for me this time in Norway was downhill skiing. That was intense. Or as Marit or Martha would say...instenst ;)... haha. Anyways, I went to skiskole (ski school) with Ragnhild last saturday, and that was really fun and funny. Basically it was she, myself, one adult, and about 10 or 15 little kids...as in under about 12 years old. :) Also instruction was mostly in Norwegian, but sometimes they would speak english to me or else Ragnhild would just translate for me. It was fun though...I have not been on skis since I was oh....about 9 years old maybe? And that was cross country skiing...in North Dakota. A North Dakota hill is basically any increase of 5 feet or more on a plane of lets say 100 feet... while the Norwegian "bunny hill" was the equivalent of a North Dakotan mountain ;) ok. maybe I exaggerate, but that is what it feels like when you are physically incapable of stopping! (Plooooooge...pizza....not sure if I spelled that right) But yeah, that was fun learning how to ski at Eikedalen. The next day I went with the Smith-Eides minus Sigvart to a little futher off place called Furdale (or however you spell that). That was sigificantly more steep than Saturday's attempts and I loved it. I went down the steepest hill 3 times and the last I was fortunate enought to experience tumbling down a hill headfirst and, upon stopping at the bottom of the hill, admiring your skis (which flew off) at the top! hahaha. Thankfully no broken bones, just scratches, bruises, and blood...I love it. This most recent Saturday I went skiing in Voss with Sigvart, Siril, and Vegard and it was a beautiful day...but the snow was awful, wet, and well...not good. But it was lots of fun! I fell just about every time downt each hill and did the splits a few times. I even fell while going on the first 5 feet on a beginner's hill. Uffda.
So that was skiing.
Most of the other days I actually went to school at Danielsen as most of my frieds in Norway are there. I went to some classes, played some Ligretto (card game), and basically just distracted people from their school work. I was also pleasantly surprised at the amount of Norwegian I can now understand and actually speak. Weird. I actually had some Norwegian conversations with people...So much fun! Not sure what else to write about that...I guess I also met a bunch of next year's hillcrest class. They should be a fun class. Maybe. Except Erlend, he is trouble :P
What else have I done this week...I went to NL (next level) youth group with Sigvart and so many other awesome people...you know who you are...I really like that youth group alot. Especially when I actually understand what is going on. But really there are so many people I just really enjoy being with there it is great. Also the Cell Group bible study thingy that I went to this past week was great. We talked about Love (in Norwegian and English) and it was a great study while also being ridiculously fun. Thanks Chris (the British youth pastor).
I have also been to a few friends' houses such as Kristia Ruud's, Ragnhild's, Andreas' (for cell group), and Siril's. Basically some of us had dinner and hung out at Kristian's one night, supper and fishing at Ragnhild's, cell group at Andreas', and kanelboller (cinnamon rolls) at Siril's. Of course last night was at Ingrid Aurlien's! That was fun. Bunch of people from the Daniesen class, plus Maria and Elise, and we played games and watched the Brann fotball (soccer) game (Heia Rosenborg!!! hahahaha...bare tullar...please don't hate me for that my Bergen friends....)
So I guess you could say that is my Bergen two weeks in a nutshell...lots of quality time with Sigvart especially, staying at his house. It has been so nice to be here again and it still feels kinda like home.
It has also been a bit strange, I have only seen Calvin for about 10 minutes these weeks. haha. Oh well...he and I have different friend groups here I think..I will see him a bit these next weeks in the mountains!
So, this is my last day here for a while..but I have a habit of coming back..so who knows? I think Sigvart and I are just hanging out here today and eating some Risgrøt (not like the Rømmeris Siril gave me....hahaha)
About time to head to the mountains and back to America.

Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Sweden + Norway = Marit?

Alrighty then...I was worried for a moment that I was going to have to recap all of Denmark, Sweden, and kind of Norway...though I guess to be honest I have only had a night and a bit of a morning in Bergen! Thankfully, my last update was from Copenhagen.
So after the Danish experience Calvin and I boarded our train for Goteborg to visit Emma! Fun Fun. I was not sure what this visit would be like as Emma and I had a few differences in our time in Cooperstown..haha...but I was excited to see her again none-the-less- her and her boyfriend, Johnaten (sorry if I misspelled that!!). I was glad to see her at the train station once we arrived, though at first I actually did not recognize her! Weird..I saw a blond girl walk by me who seemed about the right size and age for Emma, and she seemed to be looking for something...maybe someone? MAYBE two travelers...one tall, one short(with a huge beard). So I followed her and was happy to find it was in fact Emma! Long time no see...about 6 1-2 years now?
It was GREAT to catch up with Emma after all these years! She took Calvin and I around the city to see the sights and eat coffee and pastries (with her friend Jenny). I do not remember any specific names of places in Goteborg except for fiskekirke! hehe...(Fish Church!) though, that is in fact not a church...but they do have fish! Mostly we walked around and talked about old memories and new happenings in our lives..for Calvin I guess it was just getting to know her.
That night Emma decided that we should have Sushi for supper! ..AND pizza! hehe good combination, right? I really liked it, though it was too much food for the three of us (Johnaten came later and helped out a bit too!) We just kinda hung out then and went to bed not too late (I guess I went at about 1.30 am) Next morning we woke up and had breakfast about 9 and Calvin decided he was going to take the train to Oslo at 12.45 that day and stay with some friends up there. I wanted to stay another day with Emma in Sweden though, so he left and I went around the city that day with Emma. We went down to the main part of Goteborg and toured a really weird museum where they exhibited some Thai women's photography. It was just so strange...I do not know what else to say. Some people's art.... hehe.
Eventually we went back to the apartment and had tacos for supper in addition to a really good fruit dessert with white chocolate. It was such a good time with Emma in Sweden! I do not really know why we did not get along very well in Cooperstown but we got along now, so that was really nice!
The next morning I boarded a bus for Oslo at 10.15 am and then a train from Oslo to Bergen at 4.07 pm. I arrived last night at about 10.35 pm and was greeted by Siggi, his dad, Catie, and Ade. About 15 minutes after a brief catch up with them, we went back to my home at 132 Nattlandsfjellet! It was good to be back, if only for a short while. Siggi and I stayed up til about 1.30 am talking and glad to see each other again. This morning I came back to Danielsen to say hi to everyone and am actually typing right now in the computer lab on the second floor. Or third floor...or something. It is fun to see everyone again!! Should be a good few weeks..Not so much sightseeing (as I DID live here for almost 3 months) but catching up with friends is what I am really looking forward too.
By the way, Marit is sititng next to me which is why Sweden + Norway = Marit?
She has no idea that I am typing about her right now..hehe. Hun vet ikkje.....:D

Friday, 20 March 2009

Up Date Vo Ebuf

Well I suppose all of you following my life right now would like to hear if I am alive or not...unless by chance you have read Calvin's blog..then you know I am alive. But then again, he is really good at photography so he might have fooled you when in fact he and I duked it out with a bear in the swiss alps...good thing I had my trusty swiss army knife. True story.
So I am in fact in Copenhagen, Denmark staying with Scarlett. For those of you who don't know who that is, she is my mom's exchange student sister from whever my mom was in high school. 1920-something I believe. :P She is great, and lives with her husband John who is a cool guy. However, I will leave that as a cliff hanger for the moment as I had left off at my previous blog with Switzerland!
So I cannot actually remember all of what I wrote in my last update...soo if I repeat something, sorry!
The day after the Fondu Party (which I believe is where we left off...) we woke up not too late and had breakfast by ourselves, though I guess the cleaning lady who does not speak english was hanging around. Once noon rolled around Delphine's dad picked us up and brought us to the school where we met Delphine for lunch. She took us out for pizza and then we decided to go to class with her afterwards! However, it was an accounting class...taught in French...so we just played sudoku :) Later we walked around Fribourg a bit, met Delph's horse, cracked the code of a lock on a refrigerator....went out to dinner with some of Delphine's friends, went to a student club thing and called it a night. It was a relaxing day, particularly after the extreme sightseeing in Italy, France, and London..haha.
Next day we woke up a bit earlier...like 8.30 or 9 ish. I watched The Holiday (and Calvin watched a little..) while I ate my breakfast..lol. At about 12 that day Delphine took us around a bit...like to see a castle mostly..It was so much fun there! It also gave me the desire to rescue a princess from a tall tower..After that we hurried home to eat supper before we went to the Fribourg hockey playoff game! It was so intense...I loved it. there was about 7000 fans I was told- a full arena. I guess Fribourg is not really ever a good team, particularly because they do not have as much money as other clubs for players...but they play with heart! and it was a fun game to watch.. the crowd was into it the whole game and Fribourg pulled off the 5-3 win! It was soooo fun and it was also the first hockey game I have seen in person.
The next morning we left Fribourg for Basel at 10.00 am. We had about 7 hours in Basel before our train to Copenhagen left...so Calvin and I explored a bit..actually we explored separately. haha. No specific reason I guess. It was a really neat city to be in. I thought it might be a lame and exceptionally boring stay, but I was wrong. I would not have minded staying overnight there if we had more time..
Then we got to experience the 16 hour train ride through all of Germany...which was a bummer. I really hoped to see some places in Germany, but time just does not permit. Our last Eurail day is Monday! So I guess that will be another trip, another day.
-Intermission-
So for those of you who do not know what Vo Ebuf is...Calvin does not either and has been complaining a few times for the past 30 minutes :) haha. It is ok. Just a simple code...that really means nothing important to anything in this blog or life in general. hehe.
Soooo back to the action...Despite the fact we had to skip Germany, the 16 hour train ride to Copenhagen gave us some more time in Denmark with Scarlett, John, and Charley (their son). Since we have been here, they have spoiled us so much. Scarlett has taken us around and buys us everything! She is too nice to us I think. We went to the heart of Copenhagen today...on a tour boat, to the observatory tower, the long shopping mall thing, and Charley took us to a showcase hockey game where celebrities played to raise money for breast cancer. So I saw Miss Denmark..haha. She is really not a good hockey player though...
Copenhagen has been a great stay though...Scarlett, in addition to taking us places, has made us amazing food. I guess it is kind of like what they have at Christmas. So good!
Tomorrow we are headed to Sweden to meet up with Emma Sunden. It has been a while since I saw her! I am excited to see her again.
hppe ojhiu!!
....I have been reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress....
my bad.

Sunday, 15 March 2009

Switzaly

Hey everyone who is either interested in, or feels morally obligated, following my life!
Calv and I hit up the morning train to Pisa a few days ago and saw the famed Leaning Tower, which is also by a very impressive duomo...though you never hear about it. We were greeted by about 70 degrees and sunny skies. We were only in Pisa for about 2 hours, but that was enough as it basically is only the Leaning Tower and duomo...So we chilled on the grass and I ate about 8 snack pie things with chocolate in them...hehe. I am so incredibly healthy, I know. But the leaning tower was really neat and it is a wonder how it still stands...weird. Apart from seeing those two thingsthough, we really just chilled and made up conspiracy theories....apparently Norwegians are slowly taking over the world..So if I am whacked after this post, you know who to blame ;)
After leaving Pisa, we went to Florence. I really enjoyed that city aaaaaaaaaaaalot. I wish I had been able to spend more time there! However, a day and a morning had to suffice..
Upon reaching the city (an hour late thanks to train delays) we went to the Accademia to check out the Triumphant David, which has huge and sweet. Though we were not technically supposed to take pictures, I managed to snag one :) Later we checked out the Duomo and Baptistry. I think that those two buildings are the most impressive I have ever seen. They are amazing- and the baptistry doors are super sweet. Once again, thanks Mr. Preston, for the historical backround! It makes this trip 10x better!
We stayed at a sweet youth hostel that night, met a random Seattler named Jason, who had just spent a year teaching english in South Korea, and I went to the Uffizi museum the next morning. Calvin, who was sick of museums, left Florence earlier at 10.49. I payed extra to change my ticket to 12.37. This museum was my favorite, mostly due to the Renaissance art dedication and the Boticelli room! The Rembrandt and Da Vinci works were great, but Boticelli was awesome...especially the Birth of Venus. However, I liked this painting too much I think, cause I got too close to it and set off an alarm! Oh goodness....so I ran away while the Japanese tour group laughed at me.
After this I ran to the train station while eating some italian gelatto and met up with Fede and Calvin in Trento (narrowly making my train connection!). On the train, someone told me they thought I was German. Weird. And why? Apparently in addition to looking German, thanks to facial hair, no doubt, I speak with a German accent. hahaha. This is what happens when you spend too much time abroad I guess...and/or go to Hillcrest....
So we got back to Trento, ate supper, and met up with Valentina (YES! :D ), Lucia, and Susanna. Also, Valentina's little daughter, Georgia, was there. Cute kid :) We had ice cream and then went to a Cheryl Porter concert where Valentina's brother was a backup singer. It was pretty fun! She sang gospel songs and the piano player was amazing....
The next morning we took off for Switzerland...I was sad to say goodbye to Fede, her family, and Italy (and Valentina..hehe) I would not be surprised to go back and visit Italy again; I love it there!
Important words: Ti Amo (I love you) Belle Kul (nice butt...haha...thanks federica) Bon Giorno (good morning) and of course.... Vino (Wine...thanks Sandro Rigotti!)
Today was a nice day with Delphine..we went to a lake in her sweet Mini Cooper (I want one!!) and admired the mountains. Once again, it was a beautiful day. (did you know we have had only one day of rain?) we just relaxed and talked. We came back, I played ping-pong with her bro, Francois...I won once out of about 10 games...he is so good. Yes, better than you mom. Then we had Fondu! It was good and fun...like a cheesy free for all.
Now we are watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Calvin reprimanded me for typing too loud.
Talk to you later!

Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Romice

Italy is so incredibly sweet, except for Venice.
Seriously, I had no idea what to expect when from Venice; it was a cool city in that it was a series of 118 islands and is supposed to be like an incredibly romantic place, but seriously? I was with Calvin....we did not want to pay 100 euros for a gondolier ride...the two of us, and we also got lost in this city we wandered about for 13 hours!! eck. Oh well, atleast I can say I have been there for those of you who love it, or dream of going there...It would probably have been better if we would have had a girl or girls. haha.
That night we took a night train to Rome. It was really cold on the train, and it was also about a foot shorter than I am used to sleeping in...so it was not exactly the picture of a good night's rest! However, we met a nice italian guy who gave us some panini and a snickers bar.
Once in Rome we had basically a tourist's dream day... A beautiful, cloudless, sunny day in the 60s or 70s...though it felt much hotter...
Calvin and I walked around the city after finding a hostel, The Fawlty Towers. We hit up the Colosseum, where we randomly met up with our friend Joel from Nice...hehe. He is a cool guy. So the three of us explored the Colosseum, which is sweet. I can only imagine what it looked like in its prime... Then the Palatino and Roman Forum...the ruins...lots of piazzas...the Pantheon.....wow. it was quite a day. So many amazing buildings and great historical places! Thank you Mr. Preston for making me learn stuff in European History! It is funny how before I took that class, I thought I would not like it and would not need it...Such a great class, such great history.
We had an early night and woke up this morning to go to the Vatican museum place and St. Peter's Basilica. It is crazy the size, architecture, and art of that place...seriously. My favorite was the Sistene Chapel. Michelangelo had some skills.... It is completely mind boggling how he did that.
Also, the Catholic Church is so loaded with money it is ridiculous.
So tomorrow we go to Pisa and Florence after another night at the Fawlty Tower :D

Sunday, 08 March 2009

Trento

Surprisingly everything went according to plan following Nice..
Calvin and I reached our trains to Milan, to Verona, and then to Trento! I hope I did not already write that. I forgot what I wrote last time. OH well. Federica, thankfully, was at the airport even though we had no confirmation she would even be there! How wonderfully exciting. haha.
So we came about 20 minutes' drive from the train station to Fede's house..it is SO ridiculously nice here I had no idea. We are towards the top of the town, looking over it. We are surrounded on all sides by beautiful snow capped mountains, and it is about 40-50 degrees outside, which feels super good! Shorts weather, easily.
The first night we were here we had a meal with the family and have made attempts at Italian, which is....interesting. But I feel like it is actually an easier language to learn than Norwegian. Not sure...plus I never fully learned Norwegian..just enough to kind of get by. :) Thanks for trying Sigvart!
Then we went out for hot chocolate, which was more of a literal chocolate pudding that was hot. It was very good. Not anything like the weak water and powder stuff I often have in America.
The next day we slept in til 11.00, planned our next week a bit, and then went walking up a mountain for about an hour or so with a snow board and a sled. It was so much fun! Also with us 3 was Fede's cousin, Kiera (I have no idea how to spell most of the Italian names, but I do not think they will read this anyway, so I will guess!). We found an area of untouched snow about 4 or 5 feet deep when you went through it towards the top, or what I thought was the top, of the particular mountain we went to. I cannot snowboard, but I definitely tried! We also built a huge snowman as the snow is fantastically wet and great for making stuff...like snowballs. A few hours later we came back down, and at 8.00 pm, we went out with a bunch of Italian girls for pizza, karaoke, and dancing. haha. Never would I have imagined before this trip that something like that would have happened. But...when in Rome...though technically we have not been there yet! ;)
So the pizza was really good, but what I enjoyed was trying to communicate with these girls who spoke very, very little English, with the exception of Fede and one of the girls, Lucia. As they will probably never read this, I can say that I think my favorite one was named Valentina. Haha, she is absolutely hillarious. I think her english vocabulary may have less than 100 words, but she is such an energetic person. But her voice in Karoake was ridiculously good. And it was in a small pizza place with a not too great sound system. Kudos to her. It was a fun time, though, unexpected and kind of strange as it was.
Although I think the club was the most um...new experience..Calvin or I have had. A bit different from Cooperstown dances, for sure. It was funny to dance with some Italian hip-hop, though most of the songs were American from the 90's, and with a bunch of people I do not know, or barely know in the case of the 7 Italian girls there. At about 3.30 am we got back home to Fedes...slept in til about 11.00 and just had a huge lunch!
Although..I have to admit that every meal is huge here. I love it, but seriously, the food never stops! And it is all so good...I am glad I am going hiking for a month and a half after Europe or I may seriously have put on some weight- but I do not think I have yet. I guess I do not really care that much right now :) Italian food is great. Fede's family is great. Trento is great. This trip is great. (So far, though I do not think that will change)
Almost two weeks in, we have 15 days to get to Norway, tomorrow we leave for Venice. Then it is 2 days in Rome, up to Florence and Pisa...back to Trento, and up to Switzerland.
Happy Women's Day! (atleast in Italy)

Friday, 06 March 2009

Time for Trento

Well all has gone according to the plan that Calvin and I came up with basically yesterday..or is it two days now? ehh something like 1 1-2 let's say. From Nice this morning we took the train to Milan to Vera something and then to Trento! All in all it was travel from 10 am to 7 pm. uffda! lots of quality time on trains with Calvin and a bunch of italian non-english speaking people. hehe. Also, I may have set off an alarm today which delayed the train...thankfully I got back into my seat before the inspector police people came..haha. Actually I probably didn't..I just kind of hope I did because it is a cool story. But as I was walking up and down from car to car on the train looking for my bread and water I had misplace...thought someone snatched it from me...I pushed a button to open the door. Simultaneously, however, the train stopped (We had just started to move) and a french voice came over the speakers and said something that I still have no clue as to what it was. Too bad my parents speak french and never bothered to teach me! haha. j-k. It would have been nice though. So I hurried back into my seat and was safe from the law with my Eurail pass in hand. Coincidentally I had packed my bread and water into my bag so as not to lose it. Blonde moment...for sure.
So now we are in Trento, Italy. Thankfully Fede and her dad were at the train station to pick us up. I had no idea if she would be there or not as I facebooked her last night and hoped she read her inbox...good girl :) We came up to her beautiful home and had a great dinner...ziti, salad, bread, prune tort (which was soooo great), and some authentic Trento Wine I guess. haha. Everything was SO GREAT. I just kept eating....and eating.
Calvin, myself, and Fede just went out for hot chocolate, which is more like physically melted chocolate that is hot than the American version of steamed water or milk with powder in it. It was good, but was eaten more than drunk. We have no idea what this weekend will entail, but we are meeting lots of friends of fede here and hanging out in trento. Rome, Florence, Venice, and Pisa will happen this week mid-week so as to avoid the weekend crowds. Some good chill time is ahead. Hopefully we will pick up some more italian as fede's parents do not speak any english...haha. I love it.

Thursday, 05 March 2009

Rainy Day

Greetings from Nice in the French Riviera!
It is rainy and a bit cold here, which is disappointing. But first of all I have to go back to France and Versailles Palace!! oh goodness. First place we went to near Paris and one of my favorites. My pal Louis XIV did some good work for miss Antoinette.. wow. Lots of gold, paintings, and mirrors. cool stuff
ANYWAYS...
Now Calvin and I are in Nice via Bordeoux, Nantes, and Rennes after a great stay with Tom, Laurence, Margaret, and Emma.. the rain put a damper on oour stay but we have met some nice people here. Earlier we went to a close Italian town called Vintamilgia with a random slovakian girl, Martine, who may have hustled me out of 4 euros...haha. I paid for her ticket there cause she had no cash..supposedly...then her bank card did not work...and then we did not meet up with her at the train station. Whatever, easy come easy go. for the record I think she was telling the truth.
Now we are chilling with a guy, Joel from Vancouver, in a hostel as we did not arrive in time for a night train. He is pretty cool. We walked for 5 hours in Nice, got locked in a cemetary, and are eating cheese, bread, and talking religion. fun times!
Italy tomorrow...not sure as to the plan after this weekend.

Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Vive le France!

I suppose all you guys want an update about my trip or something now. OK, I will oblige.
SO Calvin and I arrived in Paris having NO idea where to stay the night. I was not too worried...that is what sleeping bags are for. However, Calvin, always concerned for my safety, thought we should actually stay somewhere with a roof. Why not the Best Western? hehe. For only 25 Euro each per night... less than a hostel.
Little did I know that I could have stayed for free somewhere had I had access to my email. Thanks for trying Mom!
So it was nice to be in a 3 star hotel. First time either of us had rented our own hotel room... Feeling of accomplishment!
And then we came to Rennes because Paris was lame.
Except for the Eiffel Tower, that is alright. And the cheap bakeries with amazing bread and pastries...oh and the crepe stands. Plus my date with Lisa was nice..in the Louvre. Kinda crowded though...dont worry though mom, I was not allowed to come within about 10 feet of her. She could not takeher eyes off me... until I left.
Then the catacombs...those were neat. Creepy though...thousands upon thousands of dead bodies...bones neatly stacked for about a mile underneath Paris. What else did we do...Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, Bastille...Bakeries for 3 meals a day per day..It was actually pretty fantastic there. I liked it.
--SORRY IF THERE ARE TYPOS.....FRE8N§CH KEYBO%ARDS ARE KIND OF M?ESS£ED UP--
anyways....I am writing from Rennes now in my aunt and uncles cozy house. They are great.. Emma and Margaret as well. It is so good tobe with them here. Lawrence has spoiled us with great food and Tom took us to St. Michel today... Amazing castle. there we had Crepes too.
Earlier Calvin and I went to Normandy at Aeromanche... Such history there. I loved it...could have spent way more time there. In Bayouex we saw the William of Normandy tapestry which was really cool. I thought it had a decent chance to be lame...it was not at all. Great times here in Rennes...
I have no idea where we will be tomorrow... Depends on if we can get in touch with Federica or not! We do not have her number or exact address...hehe. So we may be in Spain, Venice, French Riviera, or Bordeaux.... oh well. All sound good to me!

Friday, 27 February 2009

Last Day!

atleast for London....
Today was a beautiful day, about 60 degrees, and SUNNY! I love it. Calvin and I tried to see as much as we could, but we could always see more.... Highlight of the day for myself was the Tower of London. It is SO cool. Many neat buildings and history, especially Henry VIII who is one of my favorites...cause he is interesting! not a role model or anything....Also we saw the crown jewels and they are ridiculously extravagent. We both tried to break the rules and take pictures, but both of us failed! ahhh better luck next time.
We also saw the London Bridge, which kind of is just a normal bridge. \I was very disappointed...haha. but the Tower Bridge is AWESOME. so cool what people built back in the day. Who needs concise, money saving, and efficient buildings when you can spend crazy amounts of money to gold plate entire roofs and ornately decorate the sides of towers. Although it was nothing compared to the splendor of parliament and Big Ben, which was my favorite. I am tired though, so that is most of the details you all get for today. We leave in 6 hours on the chunnel to paris..we were able to get £58 tickets, so that was alright for me (about 83 dollars) considering we got them yesterday...thanks again Eurail passes. I am hoping to find a hostel or something in Paris as neither I nor Calvin has a clue as to where we are staying! haha. Should be interesting.
Sorry to say goodbye to Artemis now, she has been so great and fun. We took lots of pictures today and had more good times, like usual..I guess I will see her again in June.