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June 16 ‐ Paris

Today was a day of relaxation, contemplation… and plenty of the Doctor!

This morning Ida made us a brunch of Quinoa and veggies, which, as any Parisian knows, is the perfect way to start any Thursday.

As we ate, we watched some Doctor Who, which has become a mealtime tradition of ours. We stayed in for awhile, and after all that running around and museum-ing we had been doing, it was actually quite enjoyable.

Finally, however, the pressing need for some jus d’orange got to us, so we set off for a supermarket. And once you’ve been grocery shopping, you officially live somewhere, right? So now we can call ourselves Parisians, right? Right.

We had only brought one shopping bag with us, assuming we would only pick up a few things. However, we ended up stuffing so many items into that poor little bag (wine bottles, milk and orange juice containers, bread, zucchini, smoked salmon, cold cuts and bacon for Ida, tea…) that it literally broke from the weight! One of the straps snapped in two, forcing Ida to struggle with the bag until we got to the Metro station (don’t worry, though, Ida got me back for making her carry it: I held it as we walked home from the Pont Neuf station, which was not a piece of cake considering my pants’ lack of belt…).

Still, despite Ida’s heavy groceries, she still insisted we stop and take out the camera to photograph some picture on the side of a building. I didn’t really understand, but she said it was “very important to [her].”

When we got back, we finished our authentically Parisian day with an indoor picnic dinner of baguette and smoked salmon (and amazing cherry jam for dessert!). Délicieux!

Bonne nuit!

-Zelda

June 15 ‐ Paris

Number of crepes: 4

Number of jumping pictures: 3

Another museum day! Today’s adventures take place at none other than…

…the famed Musee d’Orsay!

While walking to the museum, a lady stopped me, asking for directions. She was a tourist who spoke French pretty well (better than me, but I could tell it wasn’t her first language because she sometimes slipped up on her numbers) but no English. She wanted to know how to get to a certain monument by bus, and because she knew no English, we were forced to converse in French! We talked in French for over five minutes, which was very exciting for me. Honestly, I had never heard of the attraction she was trying to visit, so we went over to the map, and I helped her figure our which bus stop she needed and how to get there. Luckily, the bus stop was in an area that I actually knew, so I wasn’t completely useless!

Finally, we arrived at the Musee d’Orsay. We could tell this would be a cool museum even before stepping inside, simply because of the awesome statues in front of the building!

They can't put up a statue of a rhino without expecting me to imitate it!

The museum itself was amazing, huge but manageable and filled with gorgeous and varied collections. Just like outside, the main hall inside was lined with breathtaking statues.
Our favorites were busts by Charles Cordier. These sculptures consisted of bronze and marble. Each had great detailing, even in the deepest folds of their clothing. So beautiful!

We spent hours wandering through the museum, seeing such great works as Van Gogh’s self-portrait and pieces by Degas. Some of these paintings were familiar, but experiencing them in person was a totally different experience. It was an absolutely amazing opportunity to be able to sit and stare at those wonderful, rich blues Van Gogh used.

Ida especially liked Dante et Virgile aux Enfers by Adolphe William Bouguereau. It was one of her favorites in the entire museum! In Ida’s words, “so impressive.” It wasn’t my favorite, but it is super intense (and, you know, I appreciated the Vergil aspect. Gotta love that man).

In the main hall, where we kept stopping to look at the sculptures between exhibits, there was an enormous painting. We kept brushing it off, assuming it was just some boring, somewhat historical piece. Upon further inspection, however, we discovered it was the original inspiration for the movie The Hangover! Painted around 1815 by Thomas Couture, Les Romains de la Decadence is basically a painting of the day after a huge party thrown by wealthy Romans. We had so much fun coming up with scenarios for each character!

Overall, the Musee d’Orsay was everything I could ask for in an art museum- truly worth the day we spent in it. In fact, I don’t think we had a chance to see every exhibit there… which means we’ll have a reason to go back! 😉

Adieu!

-Zelda

June 14 ‐ Paris

Today was the day of our first museum.

We went to the Dali Museum in the morning. That is, we attempted to go to the Dali Museum in the morning, but we got monstrously lost on the way there. Can I just say that the maps of Paris are not very precise…

Instead of going to the Espace Dali in the morning, we spent the morning wandering the Montmarte section of Paris. The funny part of this is that we had met some Americans living in Paris the previous night, and they had said we had to go wandering in the Montmarte section of Paris, and we told them we would, though we had no specific plans as to when. Montmarte was in fact a pretty nifty bit of town. We watched street performers and looked at the neat scenery. We even ran into a statue that was of a man coming out of the brick wall.

Also on the way to the Espace Dali, we saw a fruit and vegetable stand.

We bought vegetables as snack food… I had the best bell-pepper I have ever eaten. It was so delicious.

After much walking in circles, we finally found it:

The museum was fun. There were none of his larger famous paintings, however there were a ton of sculptures that he did – and they were pretty neat. The thing about Dali’s work is that once he finds an image that he likes, he uses the same idea over and over. So we got to see the 3D versions of Dali’s melting clocks, and the elephants from several of his paintings in the mid-40s.

   

I was pretty excited about the space elephant. The Dali Museum had all these great little description placards in English! (more later on how museums in Paris that know they have an international audience refuse to have any kind of information available for anyone who doesn’t speak french) with the piece’s title and medium, but also analyses of the work – which made it infinitely more interesting. It was an absolutely tiny museum, with only about 2 dozen works in it. The Space Elephant, according to the description, represents the onward march of (structured) technology, even on fragile, nearly invisible legs.

Zelda was pretty excited about the series of photographs of Dali and his fantastic elastic mustache.

   

But! The day didn’t end there. After the museum, we were off to the circus!

Now if you thought the Dali Museum was hard to find… (and you should have! Because we told you it was) then the circus was even harder.

Well, that’s not actually true – the circus was easier to find, but much much harder to know where it was. We checked the website for the circus performance, and it simply said that the show was ‘on the Ile Sanguin, about a 5-10 minute walk from the metro’. No address. No directions.

‘Ile Sanguin’ is not an address. It’s not a big island – but it certainly not the size of a circus tent, either. So after some reasonable period of panic, Zelda and I decided to head off to the metro station, and see if we could just find it from there.

And there were signs! The circus troupe had put up signs all down from the train station to the actual circus tent leading us there. By the way, the circus tent was set up in the middle of a beautiful garden.

The show was fantastic!

We were actually there on opening night.

The show was a circus rewrite of swan lake. The show opened on a white sphere in a spotlight, and shadow koi fish swimming on the stage, barely noticeably. And then a set of clowns walked onto the stage, with white tutus affixed to their backs like wings and flapping their arms. There was ballet, acrobatics, miming, clowns, juggling, fantastic costuming – and we had second row seats.

I was especially fond of the man who swung from cloth hanging from the ceiling. Zelda especially liked the acrobat who did one-handed handstands and semi-contortionist poses while moving between two spinning plates. Perhaps the most impressive, though, were the pair of acrobats who did hand stands on each other’s hands, flips, and various hanging-from-the-ceiling tricks. They were markedly impressive.

After the show, we hung around the gardens until the sun started to set, and then we headed back to the metro and to our apartment.

Until next time!

-Ida

June 13 ‐ Paris

Number of jumping pictures: 2

This morning we woke up at around 10:30 a.m. and decided to make brunch. While Ida showered, I started the pasta. My plan was to have farfalle pasta with our recently purchased par-baked bread. However, as we soon discovered, it was impossible to bake the bread- we have no oven! Only a microwave pretending to be an oven- it let us choose the time and temperature, so at first we thought it was just a funky-looking oven (because it seems like all French appliances are funky-looking). The bread turned out to be inedible! 🙁

Fortunately, the rest of the meal was fabulous (And we made it! In our apartment!). I felt kind of grown-up. We put all these seasonings- tarragon, garlic, dill- in a sautee of mushrooms and onions (and plenty of EVOO!) to mix with the pasta. Add a pinch (or two…) of gray salt, and Voila!

Oh my god, this picture makes me hungry

After lunch, we set out for Rue Monge to see Arenes de Lutece, the ruins of an ancient Roman arena that have been turned into a park.

I was excited because Roman history is one of the few types of history I actually know anything about.

As we walked through the park, I appreciated the juxtaposition of old and new.  As screaming children climbed onto the ancient stonework without a care in the world,

old men on the field laughed as they played Bocce Ball (in fact, we counted over six games being played simultaneously- our parents would be so proud!).

Although this park did have a few tourists scattered about, it was obviously a local treasure. It was nice to just sit back and watch authentic Parisian life happen around us.

Being surrounded by all this beauty made Ida and I seriously contemplate our lives!

After spending some time at the arena, we decided to have an early dinner at Cafe du Marche, a delicious, relatively cheap cafe on Rue Cler. I got the rigatoni a la creme de truffe, while Ida had the steak tartar, which came with a salad and potatoes.

Mmmm...so good!

The wine was the best so far- a pink wine called Cotes de Provence “Bertrand”.

We decided that we would have to hunt down more of this wine when we both become connaiseurs.

Rawr! I am a Connaisaurus Rex!

Then on to our next adventure: the Eiffel Tower!

It was kind of like the London Eye- kind of cool but mostly just something we could not go home without accomplishing. I decided to climb the stairs to the top, but Ida refused. It actually wasn’t as bad as I imagined, and as I walked, I could enjoy the beautiful architecture (which really made the hike worth it).

It was kind of rainy and foggy, which meant that although the lines were shorter and each level less crowded, the view was also less spectacular than we expected. Still pretty, though!

On the second level, I witnessed some of the magic and romance of Paris. A couple was hugging, and I thought they looked kind of cute together. But suddenly, the man knelt down and held the woman’s hand. I was witnessing their engagement! They both started crying… heck, I was almost tearing up, it was so beautiful!

Notice the rainbow behind them! Awww...

Finally, Ida and I both reached the top, which means we are officially French!

We mean serious business.

We were both very tired from our long day, and that’s when things got a bit silly…

Don't I kind of look like the chef from The Little Mermaid?

We stayed at the top for a while until it started to get dark. Then we both went down the stairs so Ida could enjoy that gorgeous architecture!

At night the tower lit up, illuminating the beautiful patterns and shadows the metal made!

Oooooh...

....aaahhh....

Even cooler than climbing it, though, was seeing the entire thing at dark! The view of the Eiffel Tower at night is so gorgeous!

We walked directly underneath it, which was kind of cool- I had never seen it like from that angle!

Ida and I were so tired that we just sat on the Champ de Mars and rested while we looked on in awe.

Quelle belle vue!

Right when we were leaving to go home at 11 p.m., the light show started! We missed it before because we were still walking downstairs, but apparently at night they flash the lights on the tower every hour on the hour.

Love from Paris!

-Zelda

June 12 ‐ Paris

Today we slept in. It was marvelous.

Zelda and I really like the apartment we are staying in. It has a kitchen fully stocked not only with every kind of dish I could possibly think of, but also with non-perishable goods! I made us lunch – couscous. And I know that a lot of people cook, like, every day. But I was really proud of myself for the cooking actually good food – and it was actually good.

Ingredients: couscous, cherry jam, garlic, tarragon, honey, rock salt and nutmeg
It was good. No really, it was actually good. The honey and the garlic and the jam and the tarragon were a good combination. Zelda got seconds after she knew what I put in it.

We walked over to the Sainte Chapelle. The Sainte Chapelle was your standard old church, and there was a pretty long line and it didn’t seem all *that* impressive, so we decided to skip it for that day. They do have concerts there regularly, so we’re hoping we can catch one before we leave.

On our way to the Notre Dame we stopped at an ice cream stand called Berthillion. Now, if you yelp “Paris, France” with no specifications for what you’re looking for, the top rated thing to do in all of Paris is not the Louvre. It is this ice cream stand.

I love hazelnut gelato, but I don’t know how to say hazelnut in French. But the menu had something called “noisette,” which sounded like a kind of nut… so I went for it! And it was delicious. Zelda got caramel, which also looked good. We are definitely going back to this stand.

After we devoured our ice cream, we headed on to the cathedral of gargoyles. The Notre Dame was pretty darned cool.

We only walked around the outside, but the architecture was beautiful. Zelda tells me they will take you into the basement to see all the beautiful gargoyles up close, which I definitely want to do some time.

Zelda decided that she wanted to jump at every major monument while we are in Paris.

We also were concerned before that we lost the tourist … well, we found them!

Aaaaand we saw someone feeding the pigeons — directly next to the ‘do not feed the pigeons’ sign.

However, we didn’t stick around too long at the Notre Dame today, because we had a concert to catch.

The Sainte Eustache Cathedral, it turns out, is the church where Mozart held the funeral for his mother. And they have one of the largest organs in the world! And they hold free afternoon organ concerts on a regular basis.

I can see why organs are the church instrument. The range is amazing, and the notes echoing off the high vaulted ceilings made the notes seem to vibrate all around you at once.

As it turns out, they have free afternoon organ concerts on Sundays because they have them right before mass.

We also wandered around a bit. As it turns out, Sainte Eustache Cathedral is not your normal church. It is secretly a museum.

I was very impressed by the fact that the entire cathedral was painted on the inside in all sorts of beautiful colors.

After that, we wandered the gardens outside the cathedral, where one man heard us speaking English, and was very excited to practice his English with us, and then tried to convert us to communism. And then we left the gardens. (Although we walked past a really neat looking sculpture themed on light refraction).

Zelda and I had been talking about getting steak frites at a French cafe for about 3 days straight. I really wanted to get this because it sounded delicious, and Zelda really wanted to vicariously order this famous French dish since she doesn’t eat meat.

So, with the use of trusty yelp, we went off in search of steak fritte. (The place we found was on a street called Rue Monseur le Prince! Is that the best street name you’ve ever heard or what?)

Except that I didn’t get steak fritte…

In a surprising turn of events, I got duck fritte (because, how can I turn that down?). It, like all the French food we’ve eaten, was delicious.

       

We finished dinner late-ish, so after that we decided to head home and get some sleep.

Much love from overseas,

-Ida

June 11 ‐ Paris

Number of Crepes: 3

We had a lot to do today…

…but first I had to fix my hair!

In the morning, we walked to Rue Cler, a shopping area that has a mixture of normal specialty shops and farmer’s markets. We missed the main hustle and bustle of the morning because it took us over an hour to walk there (including map checks and confused wandering).

Ida is horrified how bad our senses of direction are!

On our way, we saw plenty of pretty buildings,

a beautiful view of the Seine River (which, by the way, we live right next to!),

and fancy-schmancy (or as Ida described them, “encheribed”) bridges.

Getting lost isn’t so bad when you’re lost in Paris!

When we finally got there, we did some grocery shopping for the week, including delicious bread, wine, mushrooms, cherries, peaches, kiwis…and in French, too!

We stopped at a nearby park to eat a picnic lunch and ended up staying there for over two hours, just enjoying the fresh food and sunshine.
After lunch, we decided to walk to the Champs-Elysees so we could see the Arc de Triomphe. Of course, as per usual, we had a little trouble finding it…

Where is it??

Eventually, though, we found it!

What a beautiful place!

Then we strolled down the Champs-Elysees, window-shopping. It seemed like we walked forever, so we were glad to move onto our next excursion: a tour with Bateaux-Mouches on the Seine!

It was just what we needed- some relaxation time off our feet while beauty came to us! The tour cruised up and down the Seine while pointing out important landmarks and giving historical tidbits about each place. Everything was gorgeous, and it was pretty cool to learn about the area we will be living in for two weeks.

Pont des Arts- couples put these "Love Locks" on the bridge and then throw the key into the Seine to symbolize their everlasting love for each other!

Can't forget the Eiffel Tower- the view of it from the boat was absolutely breathtaking!

After our cruise, we slowly made our way home, stopping by cool statues…

…and the Tuileries Gardens!

When we got home, we were so tired that we didn’t even make dinner! What a day!

A bientot!

-Zelda

June 10 ‐ London

This morning, after packing all our stuff, we decided to have a picnic to enjoy the sights on our last day in London!

Scary, eh?

Of course, we first had to stop and take pictures in front of the National Gallery one last time!

I preferred to imitate the lion with my golden mane! 😉

We then headed towards the Victoria gardens, right outside the Westminster Abbey.

What a cute sign!

There we ate a delicious picnic of fresh bread with various cheeses, dried fruits, and nuts…

…that is, until it started pouring down rain!
We tried to find shelter, but the more we walked in search of a nice cafe, the harder it rained. Finally, we were able to wait out the majority of the storm in a warm covering until we could brave the wind again.
We had made it practically to the hotel again, with the rain storm almost over, when we decided to stop in the National Gallery cafe for some tea. Ida and I ended up splitting a vegetable curry pastie- yum! Just what we needed!

After picking up our bags from the hotel, the time had come to go to the train station. There, we had our very first French exchange, in which the man turned to Ida and said, “Parlez-vous francais?” To which she simply pointed at me. He then asked me how long we were staying in Paris. When I said 2 weeks, at first he thought I said 12 weeks, which was slightly embarrassing… at least now I know to annuniciate more so that my deux doesn’t sound like douze. Finally, after our exchange, he told me that since we had a three-hour train ride, I should teach Ida French on the way…

…which is exactly what we did! I taught Ida the three most important phrases to know: pardon (excuse me), merci (thank you), and Je voudrais… (I would like…).

We also went over some of the basic vocabulary in our phrase book, specifically:

Pourriez-vous parler plus lentement, s’il vous plait? (Could you speak slower, please?),

Pourriez-vous repeter, s’il vous plait? (Could you repeat that, please?),

and probably the most relevant one for our trip…

…Je suis perdue! (I’m lost!)

Paris

Finally, we arrived in the beautiful city of Paris! Of course, for the first 30 minutes we only saw the train station, where we ran around frantically trying to figure out how exactly we were going to get to our apartment. When we tried to ask the man selling subway tickets, he was so rude to us- we definitely had our first experience with the infamous Parisian rudeness! That was not as cool of a French exchange as the earlier one on the other side of the train tracks.

When we eventually made it out of the Metro, all the stress was worth it, though, because we got to see such a beautiful view!

Ah, much better!

After such a frantic day, we knew the perfect place to go for our introduction to Paris: a creperie! Ida had one with mushroom, ham, and cheese, while I had one with three cheeses (which makes it gourmet!). We split our sucre et beurre dessert crepe. Delicious! The French are definitely good at making comfort food.

…and while we waited, we could even watch the cook make them!

Au revoir!

-Zelda

June 9 ‐ London : The Afternoon

Alternately Titled: Don’t You Ever Ever Ever Make Me Do That Again

Gin Rummy Score:  407 vs. 460
Cups of Tea: 5

After the Tower of London, we headed straight for the British Museum for the second time. Or so we thought … duhn duhn duuuuuuuhn

We promised Thom that we would see the Rosetta Stone every day we were in London. We’d thought it was housed in the National Gallery, right next door to our apartment, but it was in fact in the British Museum. So after a less than successful trip to see the stone yesterday, we were determined to see it today. We’d done the research online and we knew the Rosetta Stone would be in the Ancient Egypt exhibit.  Piece of cake, right?

Wrong.

Even though the museum is huge, right outside the underground station, and being marked by a huge gardens, the British Museum is impossible to find. You see, the British Museum sends out a field of confusion upon its surrounding area – much like fog. In my opinion this cloaking is a vestigial defense mechanism evolved over the centuries of being stepped on by tourists.
The field of confusion in part works by propagating about a dozen identical gardens exactly like the Russel Square Gardens that neighbors the British Museum (similar to the hundred faux eyes of peacock’s tail). However, the field of confusion also works through its abilities of mind control, which can cause travelers to the museum to look at a map, mark their spot on said map, point the direction to the British Museum, and still walk the wrong way. Said museum also appears to have the ability to remain invisible until right before closing time.

We finally found our way to the British Museum at 5:00. The museum closes at 5:30 … and by 5:30, I mean we got kicked out at 5:20.

We were finally inside the British Museum. We had 20 minutes to recover our wounded pride of yesterday by seeing the Rosetta Stone. But we were prepared this time – we’d looked up online, the Rosetta Stone was in the Ancient Egypt Exhibit. We’d also discovered that the museum houses one of my favorite paintings ever – The Great Wave.

We were determined to see this:

No maps or lists of notable works were available at the museum’s entrance or posted on any walls, but the sign for the Ancient Egypt Exhibit pointed at some stairs. We raced up three flights of stairs and into the Ancient Egypt Exhibit. The exhibit was a connecting catacombs of medium sized rooms winding around the floor … full of the most amazing specimens of mummies I have ever seen.

Original, actual mummies. The paint was pristine, even on the facial wrappings. There were glass cases of brightly painted sarcophagi stretching across this entire hall, and Zelda and I were racing back and forth frantically through these crowds of people searching for anything even resembling a big brown hunk of rock.

Zelda and I got separated in the throngs of people, so I sought out a security guard (sitting in the corner, texting) and asked where exactly the Rosetta Stone was — On the ground floor. In the other Ancient Egypt Exhibit. I would like to point out – this museum has three different ancient egypt exhibits, and they are all called Ancient Egypt Exhibit

After I finally got back down there, ran through the empty hall (this is the most ridiculously constructed museum, almost all of the ground floor is a huge round empty hall with their cafe in one corner, and if you want to get anywhere in the museum, you have to run though this humongous useless room), found the right tiny sign saying “Ancient Egypt”, saw the Rosetta Stone, took a picture, it was 5:20. And I still really wanted to see the Great Wave painting in the Japan Exhibit. (The same thing happened to Zelda, who desperately wanted to see their Ancient Rome and Greece exhibit). I ran out to the stairwell, and see this massive exodus of people pouring out of the building. (Noooooooo). I raced up the stairwell, only to be stopped by an insistant guard at the top, who made me turn right back around and leave.

When Zelda and I finally met up outside the museum, we were tired, frustrated, and in need of tea. Zelda had frantically, nearly in tears, asked to be taken to the Rosetta Stone, and after she finally saw it she felt she deserved a keychain.

Then we were back out into the field of confusion (again!). After some wandering in a circle (this time we couldn’t get away from the museum!) we stopped at a tea shop called Tea and Tattle – which I will admit, I insisted we visit because I loved the typography on the sign. We were a little worried that it would be a tourist trap because it was literally right next door to the British Museum, but it was actually completely lovely. I had ceylon tea and Zelda had jasmine tea, because, after all, jasmine tea is always good everywhere. And scones with clotted cream, and all of it was delicious. The cups were so precious, with floral designs and gold leaf on the trim.

And then…

TARDIS!

Zelda and I went to the Earl’s Court underground station (did I mention how much I love the subway in London?) and took pictures with the police call box there. I was seriously expecting Dr. Who fan stores and other tourists waiting around to take pictures, but instead it was just Londoners walking by looking at us like we were freaks, taking pictures next to the subway station and the side of the road.

We took touristy pictures

   

And ridiculous pictures

   

And also pictures where I am about to go off and save the world … as soon as I can get into this locked police call box…

Don’t judge. You know it’s awesome.

On the way home, Zelda also insisted that we get a picture of her with a traditional English phone booth.

After the TARDIS awesomeness, we went to the Sherlock Holmes Pub! Yes, that’s right – there was a Sherlock Holmes pub. And we went there. To be honest, I was mostly excited about the menu. Zelda got “Mary Sutherland’s vegetable pie” and I got “Dr. Watson’s Favorite”, which is also known as “bangers and mash” which is such a fantastically ridiculous name that I had to get some.

They also had Sherlock Holmes Ale. They actually make an ale called “Sherlock Holmes Ale”. And I drank some. At the Sherlock Holmes Pub.

And we played cards. For like 2.5 hours. And I won.

We also made friends with the dorky tourists at the table next to us. They asked us to take a picture of them. And then we asked them to take a picture of us. Classic tourist bonding.

We didn’t leave the pub until 11pm, at which point we had to walk all the way home, next door.

Cheerio!

-Ida

June 9 ‐ London : The Morning

Our first stop of the day was the Tower of London – this was an old castle, fortress and then prison.  We spent nearly all day there and had a lot of fun!

I was really excited about the historical reenactments, which did not turn out to be what I expected (a factual recreation of Anne Boleyn’s execution or the like) I had a great time watching what they did put on (an enormous duel with about a dozen costumed actors).

   

We saw the ravens that are somewhat famous in the tower and supposed omens of England’s continued reign. They keep a few in cages, to ensure the continued success of England, but as Jack pointed out – they don’t really need to be trapped there. The Tower of London is a good place to be a raven. By the way – ravens are huge!

I was rather excited about seeing the spot where Anne Boleyn (and Lady Grey and Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn) were executed.  Apparently Anne Boleyn’s executioner had a sword so sharp that when he cut off her head, it spun! And legend claims that when he help up the head, the lips where still moving.

And of course we saw the crowned jewels! Ohmygod were they sparkly. They were inlaid diamonds, and the gaps between them were filled in…with more diamonds!

We weren’t actually allowed to take pictures of any of them. In fact, someone near us took pictures and got dragged out by a decidedly miffed security guard.

Every monarch had their own crown. Zelda and I agreed that the best crown was royal purple velvet with arching curves of diamonds, which we recall being Mary (Bloody Mary)’s crown. I was also partial to Queen Victoria’s crown, which was tiny and solid diamonds. And then there was the royal sceptre, which we think might have been officially that of King James’ although not every monarch had their own, there seemed to be only 2 or 3. But this sceptre had the biggest jewel I have ever seen in my life. HUGE. And really beautiful; I didn’t so much expect that of big shiny rocks, but it was actually genuinely gorgeous. I suppose I should hope so for how many people probably died over it.

Actually, the most amusing of the crown jewels was the royal punch bowl, as paired with the royal ladle – which was actually the sort of ladle I would have if I were king – it is nautilus shaped. I mean, how else does one properly serve royal punch?

We had also grudgingly decided to peek in at the armory exhibit (I generally understand what armor looks like. And rotting crossbows? meh) in the White Tower … it turned out to be one of the coolest things we saw! The exhibit was massive – spanning two towers (White Tower and Power Tower) and set up like a proper museum, with glass cases and placards and velvet ropes. And there was an interactive exhibit (for kids, but who cares?!) where we got to pick up swords and axes and shoot a really confusing fake bow and arrow.

I saw a bit of horse’s tail armor that was super cool!

In the first hall of the Power Tower was an amazing constructed dragon from equal parts rifles and scrolls and awesome. It’s tail was a horse bamen (armor mask)! And it had coins in its belly. Oh it was so cool.

       

All in all we had a great time!

The Tower of London is right near the London Bridge, which we also got to see.

Actually, we got to see extra of it because we got lostish nearby looking for the underground station. We finally found our way when we’d walked in a circle. I wasn’t convinced we’d walked in a circle until Zelda pointed out the roasted nuts vendor I’d suggested getting nuts from not 10 minutes earlier.

As a side note Zelda genuinely believes that the song goes ‘London bridges falling down…’. I have told her that this is wrong, and after humming a few bars of the song, she said ‘No. I don’t think so.’

Much love from London!

-Ida

June 8 ‐ London

Cups of Tea: 4

We did a lot of things today…

…and brought back a lot spoils!

This morning started off with the London eye, which luckily had a pretty short line.

At the bridge on the way to the London Eye. I clearly look like one of the locals, right?

Ida thought it looked like a giant desk lamp…

That is one enormous desk!

but to me, it seemed more like an alien invasion!

They're coming for us!!

While we were inside, some old man photo-bombed us! So funny!

He's my new bestie! 🙂

Around that area, there was a cool park, filled with street performers. We stopped for a bit to enjoy the scenery.

After the London Eye, we decided we didn’t want to wait for afternoon tea, so we headed to Paul’s, a cafe and bakery I had heard of (and by heard of, I do mean researched extensively while mapping out our itinerary). It was awesome- fancy yet relatively inexpensive. Also, delicious!

We both got vanilla black tea, which we had with cream and a bit of brown sugar.

We also split an open-faced salmon sandwich, which had a light, summer-y taste. It went so well with the salad and dressing, which we guessed was a red wine vinaigrette.

We both got little pastries for dessert. Ida had a millefeuille, which is basically a puff pastry sandwiching custard in the middle…

and a dark chocolate tart for me!

Next up, shopping on Marylebone! To do this, we finally had to tackle the Underground, which Ida decided is her favorite part of London. It felt like the subway systems of NYC or D.C.  only less confusing and without the smell of urine.

First stop- Baker street to do all things tourist-y and Sherlock Holmes-related.

The subway stop at Baker Street- look how cute!

Sherlock Holmes is made up of a bunch of other Sherlock Holmeses!!

Ida was very excited by this discovery, just adding to the reasons why she has developed a slight obsession with the London Underground!

At the Sherlock Holmes museum (where we only went to the gift shop), we browsed through all the trinkets and souvenirs. But the best thing by far was getting our picture taken with the props!

Zelda as Watson, Ida as Holmes (she wanted the pipe)

After shopping, we tried to go to the British museum, but when we got there, they were just starting to shoo people out. Grrrr… 🙁

Sad Zelda is sad...

When we got back to the hotel, it was a flurry of clothes and makeup as we rushed to get ready to go to the Old Vic Theatre to see the play Cause Celebre. This stressed Ida out a bit, so she took over as fire marshall- I couldn’t even finish putting on one of my shoes properly before we scurried out the door! At one point, I tripped and stumbled (I’m blaming the shoes). A posh British man who was smoking a cigarette started laughing at me! It was so embarrassing!

Luckily, we arrived at the theatre on time (even a bit early!), and Cause Celebre was amazing. It was a drama about a murder trial, yet it had just enough wit and comic relief. The acting was emotional but not over the top.

Ida got all dolled up for the event! She's even wearing her new jacket from the afternoon shopping spree.

After the show, we decided to stay in for dinner- so of course we stopped at the grocery store! We picked up bread, nutella, and brie and edam cheese- perfect for a well-rounded meal! And on the way back, we got whistled at by some random hobo- Ida was less than amused, but I thought it was so funny!

Oh yeah, that dorky bridge shot is so sexy.

However, that was not nearly as hilarious as Ida during dinner when she decided to make some tea- in a vase! I didn’t realize what she was doing until she called for me from the kitchen and asked me to help her pour it. I couldn’t stop laughing!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

We both love this beautiful city, and now that we have mastered the subway system, London is ours for the taking!

Cheers!

-Zelda