Wicked

We concluded our two week long trip by attending a performance of Wicked in the Apollo Victoria only one block away from our hotel in London. We were very blessed that our friends were able to secure second row seats - what a great way to wrap up our trip.

Big Ben from the London Eye

Laura on the Eye

The London Eye

Here is typical London weather. This was actually one of the only bad days on our whole two week trip.

Tower Bridge (Just like Sacramento)

The London Tower

This is the London Tower, home of the Crown Jewels. We had a very colorful tour guide (he was one of the Beefeater).

Our London Taxi

We had a taxi driver who relied on his GPS so much that he would wait at an intersection until it refreshed so he knew which way he had to turn.

Coffee at our Favorite Pub

St. Georges

Our favorite pub in England only a block away from our hotel.

The Gargoyles

Bridge Near Apartment in Paris

Cafe

This was the place we went the first night in Paris where we sat outside and I had Beef Burgundy and Escargot.

Flower of Notre Dame

Zurich Train Station

We only spent one night in Zurich and were upgraded to a giant suite for free. It included breakfast delivered to the room and was one of the better breakfasts we had on the trip.

Lake Zurich Sunset 3

Lake Zurich Sunset 2

Lake Zurich Sunset 1

Lake Zurich

On the way to Paris from Venice we had to go through the Alps on a train. It was one of the most beautiful trips I've ever taken. We took a lot of photos from the train but the windows were dirty and we were going very fast so they didn't come out that great. Here are a few.

One of my other favorite sections was the medieval section with swords and chalices.

Egypt

Hieroglyphics

Urn

This urn is about four feet tall and dates back to a 1,000 years before Christ.

Egyptian Antiquities

The Egyptian Antiquities was one of my favorite places in the Louvre. There is nothing like visiting history from thousands of years ago.

The Louvre

We went to the Louvre on our final day in Paris.

Paris Bridge

I took this shot on our way to the Louvre on our final day in Paris. This bridge is at the end of the street where we stayed in Paris.

Notre Dame

We toured the inside of the massive Notre Dame. It was quite impressive.

Sweets

We stopped for lunch on our scooter ride and then visited this bakery. On the bottom left is one of my favorite cakes. It was a strawberry macaroon cake with coconut creme filling (notice there are only two left)!

We Drove Our Scooters To the Lourve

The Diana Memorial with Tower in Background

Scooter day was one our best days. Although, it wasn't without challenges. We had to go get gas after we rented the scooters but we didn't know where to find a gas station. I took us a lot of driving around until we found one. After we fueled, I pushed my start button on my bike and it fell off!!! After several frustrating attempts to start it, a mechanic came out and shorted the start switch with a key to get it going. I had to do it that way the rest of time I had it. Another time it wouldn't start and after 15 minutes of frustration, Nancy said, face it downhill. I turned the bike around and voila!

Scooter Day

Bryan and Nancy on their scooters in on the Champs Elysees in front of the Arc De Triumphe.

Venice

I took these two photos on my Blackberry on our boat ride to the train station on our way out of Venice.

Lido

This is a picture from my Blackberry of the beach on the island of Lido where we stayed.

Our Apartment

This is the outside of the apartment. We have the four windows on the second floor.

The Gardens

We took a tram ride through the gardens. The fountains are giant. They used to have several ships that would sail in these and have mock battles.

Actress

The Gardens

They were filming a TV show of some kind while we were there.

The Royal Throne

They usually don't show you the royal restrooms but someone in our group made a special request and so here it is - the kings toilet.

The Kings Bed

Clock

Notice the date - 2009

Royal Clock

This clock was made in the late 1700's and has been at Versailles the entire time. It has the month, year and time displayed on it - even accurate today in 2009.

Dining Room

Here is one of the dining room that sat around 50 people. Each person would have their own server. The drink never sat on the table but you would put your hand in the air and your server would bring it to you on a silver platter.

Private Tour

We paid seven Euros extra and had a private tour of the kings apartment and chapel. Mass was celebrated here twice a day and Mozart played for the king here when he was only seven years old.

War Room

This is the end of the Great Hall.

The Great Hall

The great hall had murals painted along its entire length that depicted the battles in which France had engaged.

Hall of Mirrors

This hall had a giant mirror opposite of every window to allow the outside to be brought inside.

Banquet Room

This banquet room shows some of the opulence of this palace.

Versailles

I've posted some blogs but no pics from our trip to Versailles. It was a great little trip. We jumped on the RER (Train) and headed out. About 15 minutes into it I realized we were on the wrong train and so we jumped off and caught the next one which was the right train. We spent about six hours exploring this amazing chateau.

Update

It's been a couple of days since I've been able to post due to the internet being down at the hotel so here's the scoop. On Tuesday we woke up and went back to our favorite London pub for an English breakfast. Of course, we put the ale chutney on everything (I have to find out where to buy it around home). We then boarded the Original London Bus Tour which is a double decker bus that takes you to all the big tourist sites around the city. It was overcast and threatening to rain the whole day. It was the first day on the whole trip where we didn't have some sunshine and most days were sunny the whole day. We stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Tower and did a cruise on the Thames River. We finished our tour with a ride on the London Eye. In the evening we went with Bryan and Nancy Heath to see Wicked. Bryan was able to score second row seats. After the show we went to Ivy, a trendy restaurant where I had Shepherd's Pie. All in all, it was a fantastic way to end the trip. This morning we climbed aboard the taxi at 7:00AM to head to Heathrow. The cab driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal so we had to get a train to the right one but we made it in plenty of time. Our plane flight to Newark, NJ was pretty empty so we had a whole row to ourselves. This plane had TV's on every seat with over 200 movies which made the seven hour flight fly by. Currently, we are waiting for our next flight to San Francisco in the Continental President's club celebrating Laura's birthday! I will post the final photos shortly.

Great Adventure Coninues

This morning we returned our scooters and then hopped on the Metro over to the Lourve. We spent a few hours browsing the vast museum. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa and the venus de milo but I really liked the Egyptian antiquities along with the Napoleon collection. We met up with Bryan and Nancy for lunch at a cafe near Notre Dame and then hopped the RER to Gare de Nord for our train ride to London. The two and half hour trip took us through the longest under sea tunnel in the world at over 31 miles and a depth of 250 feet. We took a cab to our hotel and after checking in we walked to a nearby pub - St. George's Tavern. The food was delicious. We ordered a pork pie for an appetizer. It came with an ale chutney that is like a spicy relish. It was amazing. For dinner of course, we had fish and chips which were beer battered and made with huge pieces of fish. After dinner we walked to Buckingham Palace about one mile from our hotel. On our way a guy ran by us yelling excuse me and pushed his way through a crowded corner. A few seconds later two security guards ran by us chasing him. Apparently he took something from a near by store. I was surprised at how polite he was though. We finished our night off strolling by the palace and then returned to our room for the night. Tomorrow is our last full day before returning home. We are going to tour the city and then Wicked at night.

Paris at Night

We took our scooters out for a ride at night - incredible!

Sacre Coeur

From the cemetery we rode the scooters to Sacre Coeur which is a beautiful church high on a hill overlooking Paris. The clouds were perfect for photos.