A Bird's Eye View of London and Paris March 2012 TR NEW! The END 1/12 p35

I am finally caught up.
You took some amazing pictures. i would just love to be there and see all of that. I would probably go nuts in the "no photography" areas.
I think I would be scared of the Eye though. I love your family/extended family shot on it though. I would've bought it too.
 
I have a friend that visited London and brought me a magnet that says "Harrods". They said they same thing - crazy place!

I love the "Eye" pictures! What a great view of the City!
 
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First of alll, a belated Merry Christmas!
I have been woefully neglectful of my own TR! I managed to keep up on some others that I read, but there's just been so much to do lately! Good news - I've been typing up my next update!! Hopefully I can round up a few pictures and get it posted soon!
On to the replies!

What an awesome day! I can't believe you guys did so much!! :goodvibes

So glad you enjoyed your lunch, it's always scary trying something new. Also glad Dave didn't chicken out on the London Eye and that Sarah didn't get arrested for picture taking!! :eek: :rotfl:

Great pics! :)
Thanks - yeah, that was a LOT of running around! But it was fun. We managed to avoid any food "issues", we overcame our fears, and evaded arrest!
Sometimes I think I take too many pictures, sometimes I think I'm just not taking the "right" pictures, but I try to make sure we get the shot of the place, and hopefully some family shots. It's so much easier at WDW, to have a CM take one of all 4 of us. So this trip, there were a lot of shots with 2 or 3 people...

luvin the update and all the pics. :thumbsup2
Thanks! just a bit more to go!

What a fun update and no McDonalds!!! Yay!
Lunch sounds marvelous,

How fun to see Harrods, ride the Eye and visit the Abbey, just wonderful.

Question though. What is a Shandy?
Lunch was great! We had a terrific (albeit busy and tiring) day. I think, though, that the ones where you get all worn out from doing fun stuff, are some of the best days!
A shandy is a drink that is 1/2 beer and 1/2 soda (like sprite or 7 -Up). I guess it was the English woman's drink (all sissy like, only drinking 1/2 a beer!). I really liked it - but then I like sissy beer too - Bud Light Lime is my favorite, and it works well with sprite! Very refreshing in the summer too.

Read your last update before work ;) Wow that eye looks a tad frightening and strangely cool. What a great way to see the sites. That pod looks like some alien capsule.

Wait - did you not just say that your family isn't adventurous enough for Sanaa. I think your lunch was on the adventurous side. So cute that Sarah ate chicken without breading. There's always a first time. My oldest son was the same way.

Another great update from London!
Yeah, the Eye was a different experience. It was a combination of fear and excitement for me!
Okay - my family is not adventurous - mostly DH and Sarah - they tend toward the plain meat kind of foods. Paige and I will try just about anything. Hmm, maybe I should take her to lunch at Sanaa!
I've got one more update before we try to wrap this thing up!

That is so awesome!!!! LOVE IT! I am scared of heights and I know this thing would freak me out a bit, but I would have to do it, just to do it!

What a great day! Love the Harrod's pics too - reminds me of the giant Macy's in Manhattan a bit-I get lost in there every time I shop; however, the prices are generally not that bad (when you shop the sale racks...:rotfl:)
Yup, that's how I felt - I was going to do it DESPITE my fears! Like I said, I didn't come all this way to stand on the street and look around! Just like at the Eiffel Tower - you just HAVE to go up there!
Harrod's was just ridiculous! I don't know that they even have sale racks - I'm sure it would still be out of my budget! The candy was about all I could afford. Macy's sounds more do-able!
I am finally caught up.
You took some amazing pictures. i would just love to be there and see all of that. I would probably go nuts in the "no photography" areas.
I think I would be scared of the Eye though. I love your family/extended family shot on it though. I would've bought it too.
Hi Jen - I'm nice that way, giving you LOTS of time between updates to catch up!
There is so much to take pictures of - sometimes it's overwhelming. I worry I've missed a great shot or took too many pictures of the same thing. Thank God for digital so you can delete! My fear of the no photography areas is that I won't remember things as well. I already have sort of a poor memory for detail, I rely on pictures to help me!
I had to buy the London Eye picture - it was one of the few we were all in, plus it's proof we did it!

I have a friend that visited London and brought me a magnet that says "Harrods". They said they same thing - crazy place!

I love the "Eye" pictures! What a great view of the City!
Yeah - it was unreal!
I think the Eye was the best view - I didn't know half of what I was looking at, but you could see for miles!! Good think it wasn't a typically foggy London day. We might have not bothered.

Thank you so much! That's really cute! We had a great Christmas (I'm so tired! must be a good sign, right?) I hope yours was good too!
Okay - I might get the update up yet today. We'll see if I can find the pictures...
 


Hope you had a wonderful Christmas Sheree!

Thanks Shelly! I hope yours was good too! We did - I'm sitting at work (ugh) recovering. It was really fun, and the kids were happy. I'm just so tired! I think I should have gotten some caffeine! But at least I finally have some time to update!
 
March 14 – Last full day in London! Amazingly, there are very few pictures from this day. Might have something to do with another “No Photography” places!
I feel bad that it took me this long to get around to this update - it's so short, I could have done it a lot sooner!! Thanks for bearing with me!


Headed to the train and caught the 9:55 into the city. We headed to Leicester Square to look into tickets to Wicked. We did buy some- but they were not half price! So we got balcony seats and headed off for more sightseeing before the 2:30 show.
We went to see the Churchill War Rooms and museum. Sorry - No photography! At least that's what I remember and since I can't find any pictures, that's what I'm going with!
Oh, this was so cool – they had the rooms set up just like it was during WWII. The museum was really cool too – lots of photos, audio and video along with artifacts and a timeline of events. We were a bit rushed because we were going to the play, but it was really worth the time to stop and see it.

We made our way to Victoria Station, which is near the theater, and grabbed some food at a Pret a Manger (what is this name about?) shop. There wasn’t any place good to stop and enjoy our lunch, so we ended up sitting on the sidewalk on a little ledge!
This is the area around the theater.
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Look a little closer -
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Our view
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Waiting for the show to start

We all LOVED the show! The girls loved it, although I’m sure some of it was over their heads. DH and I had seen it before here in MN, and we’d told them the story generally, and we have the soundtrack, so the girls were familiar with the music. It was a lot of fun, but it was odd for us to hear them with British accents during the speaking parts!
After the show, we headed to the train station (along with a million other people). Got them some fast food (Burger King! UGH) to fend off the impending starvation before catching the train back to Gerrard’s Cross. We enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends, packed our stuff up, got the kids to bed, and printed our boarding passes and did the online check-in.
Our original plan was to take the bus to the airport, which I was less than thrilled about. But, it turned out that our host Brent was able to drive us after he went to one of the boys’ conference at school.
We had such a fun last day (as all the others), and we were pretty tired from all the walking. But I think after two weeks, we were ready to go home.
One last picture (that I know of) from London - I loved the cute brick houses with the colorful doors!
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March 15 – heading home
Yup, I was ready to go home. There were a few things that we didn’t do that I would wish to go back to do again! I didn’t do a lot of shopping (really!) and kind of wish I could have found that one special souvenir.
Turns out the girls really enjoyed the trip – I wasn’t sure how they would be given all the historical “stuff”, but they really got into it and some of the things they remember as their favorites surprised me!!
I'll be back with a souvenir update, a wrap up and hopefully a link to a TR from our October trip!
 
What a fabulous trip. I still have not seen wicked. mostly because when it has come, it had "wicked" prices. I have read the book, but I hear it is different.
Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous trip!!!!
 
One last picture (that I know of) from London - I loved the cute brick houses with the colorful doors!
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This is a wonderful picture Sheree! Love it. I'd love to see Wicked someday. I hear it's really good. I cannot wait until you start your October TR. :thumbsup2 I need to get going on mine too.
 
sounds like you had a fab trip. Wicked is Amazing. We saw it on broadway I loved it
 
Hi, Sheree!!! All caught up! Looks like a blast in London! Makes me want to start planning a trip right now!

Happy New Year!!!
 
What a fabulous trip. I still have not seen wicked. mostly because when it has come, it had "wicked" prices. I have read the book, but I hear it is different.
Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous trip!!!!
Well, thank you! Wicked is a great show - especially if you are a fan of Wizard of Oz. But those Broadway shows are pricey!
Thanks for following along!

This is a wonderful picture Sheree! Love it. I'd love to see Wicked someday. I hear it's really good. I cannot wait until you start your October TR. :thumbsup2 I need to get going on mine too.
I don't know why I was so drawn to those colorful doors! Wicked is great - someday it will come back through town and maybe it will be a good "treat" for a special occasion to see it.
I'm going to wrap this up with some souvenir pics so I can start organizing pictures for my October TR. I know you've started yours! ;)

sounds like you had a fab trip. Wicked is Amazing. We saw it on broadway I loved it
It was a great trip - sometimes I still can't believe we went! Wicked on Broadway! I have the soundtrack from the original Broadway cast and love it!

Hi, Sheree!!! All caught up! Looks like a blast in London! Makes me want to start planning a trip right now!

Happy New Year!!!
Hi Jackie! :wave:
Glad you got caught up! London is now officially one of my favorite cities! Not that I've been everywhere, mind you, but amongst places I've been, it ranks right up there! I think you'd love it - lots of cool historical things, literary references - it's right up your alley!
Hope your new year is going well so far!

Okay, friends, I've finally found and uploaded my few last pictures - SOUVENIRS!!! So I'll get that last little bit of this TR done and hopefully be able to start one for our October trip soon. I can promise one thing - it will be slow moving!!! Everyday life just takes up so much time these days! :laughing:
 
Of course, for me, part of the fun of traveling is trying to find some special mementos of our trip. Since this was a "big" trip, I thought I would look for something really special - more than just a t-shirt, you know? But it would have to be small enough to get back home in my suitcase!

Here's what we came home with:

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This was something Dave HAD to have. I love it, and it sits on our piano. However, it was after we got home, that I discovered it can be purchased ... wait for it... in EPCOT!!! Sheesh, how special is that? Oh well, I know that ours came directly from Paris!!

Most of our souvenirs came from Disneyland Paris - I know, you're shocked!
T-shirts
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This one is mine
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Sadly, the "decal" started to peel off a little around the edges. So I don't want to wear it too much. I hate that.

This, on the other hand, I wear a lot!
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Front

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Back

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See that? Really from PARIS!

We tend to get magnets from a lot of our trips. Lots of things to put on the refrigerator! This trip was no exception.
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Okay, I know this "keep calm and..." stuff is everywhere, but this is the original! We know the history of this phrase thanks to our trip to the Churchill War Rooms (well, I knew before...). It's a good reminder to have on the fridge these days with all the chaos and drama of life!

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I was careful to make sure it said Paris on it!

I was amazed at how much stuff was the same as in WDW but they stuck Disneyland Paris on it instead. Thankfully there were some things that were different and hopefully exclusive to DLP.

I think this was Sarah's
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Both girls got some little ones for their friends.

Giant Pen - I think Sarah gave one to her teacher too. They were like 3 for 2 pounds at a kitschy souvenir shop in Windsor.
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For my boss - the tin was cute.
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I'll be honest - I have no idea who bought this or where this one went!

Cute little ornaments - one or two of these might have been gifts
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Of course I had to have a pin!
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or two
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ahem or three
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Okay, this was a joke - my boss had been given a spoon with Prince William on it as some type of joke, so I thought I would add to her "collection". No offense to any spoon collectors out there! There was still a TON of Royal Wedding souvenirs over there, plus lots of stuff for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which was coming a few months later.
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cont.

 

More souvenirs...

Gotta have something from Harrod's - why not English Breakfast tea? It's really quite good! I'll probably keep the tin and put the tea bags from the grocery store in there!
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Oh - back to Paris
We always get an ornament too!
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I think Sarah got this eraser
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You've already seen our picture we bought from the London Eye
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Here we are again:
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One of the girls picked out this book.
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Dave bought a coin - he's a collector
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ETA: I almost forgot Paige's most important special souvenir! Miss Marie kitty!! She sleeps with her and just LOVES her!! She's French, you know!
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Dave also got a hooded sweatshirt in DLP and in London. Not sure why I don't have pictures, but he probably put them away before I could snap one!

And there you have it. I never did find the "special" souvenir, but the experiences we had and the memories we made will do just fine!

I guess I never mentioned - but our trip home was thankfully, uneventful. I watched about 4 movies on the first leg of the trip (which is great, since I don't get to do that often) and when we got home, the weather was so warm it felt like winter was over! In actuality, it was the warmest year on record.

I thought about how I would end this TR with some closing remarks. But I just can't seem to sum it up easily. There are things I would do over in a minute, things I wish we'd have done, things I could live without doing again, but really it boils down to this:

We had an amazing, wonderful, fun, rainy, sunny, exciting, nerve-wracking, adventurous, a little scary and MEMORABLE trip!
My favorite thing about it is that my girls have been talking about some of the things we did and saw ever since we got home. That they got so much out of it is the BEST thing I could have asked for. It was worth every penny (or Euro, or pound)!!!

I hope you have enjoyed our journey and I thank all of you for coming along and sticking with me as I dragged it out!! It was fun for me to go back and relive the events too. I have definitely gotten bit by the travel bug, and have many more adventures planned (see tickers!). I dream of a Mediterranean cruise (hopefully for my 50th!) and seeing Italy. For now, we're sticking to the US. We had our WDW trip in October - that's the next TR - I'll post a link here and send out a bat signal too! Then we are off to Hilton Head in March, and cruising Alaska in August!! :yay:

:thanks: :goodvibes

 
Great memories! I love all your souvenirs. I agree, when your child continuously talks about the trip, it was a good one. Those family memories are something they will have forever!
I am so glad you shared it with us too!
 
Really enjoyed the final installments of your trip report :)

And had to laugh when you talked about how expensive everything was in Harrods! We took the girls to London just before Christmas for our annual trip to see Santa at Selfridges (where DH works in IT) and decided to go over to Harrods as well because this year they had a pop-up Disney shop and Disney-princess inspired Christmas windows. We did pick up a couple of very small Disney gifts for the girls to bring home (bath bubbles!) but I had plans to go and get them a personalised stick of rock with their name written all the way through. At £50 (about $80) I had to say no!! We took a tiny free sample each and made do with that :lmao:

Glad you enjoyed your European adventures - sounds like there's plenty more you'd like to do if ever you get the chance to return :)
 
Oh Sheree, I have loved reading along on your BIG adventure! I'm sad it's over but am so excited to read along on your October trip. :)

I always, always get a magnet and ornament too. Great minds think alike! ;)
 
I always love the souvie post! Fun stuff but I really adore your french Minnie pin and the Tinkerbelle ornament. Adorable.

2 trips on the Horizon, how exciting for you. Seriously, don't hesitate to ask any questions about Alaska you might have as it gets closer, you guys are going to LOVE it!
 

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