[Belatedly] continuing my European travels:

We took the Euro Star from London to Paris, a relatively short trip of 2 or 3 hours. The U.K. countryside is beautiful, though I’m pretty sure I drifted off for a good portion of the trip. Prepare for ear-poppage in tunnels.

A charted bus picked us up at the station in Paris and we drove through the slowest traffic to reach our hotel, Raspail Montparnasse, almost 40 minutes later. The Hotel Raspail was a small, intimate, clean and enjoyable place to stay. It’s very European, and has a small breakfast area in the basement which is decently price. I can imagine that it’s a pretty affordable place to stay, and about 80-150 Euros/night.

Don't worry, the hotel does have a (tiny) elevator, but since my room was only one floor up, I figured it would be easier to trek the spiral staircase one flight rather than wait in the huge line while one person at a time made their way up to their respective floor with their overflowing luggage.

This is a double room with two twin beds. The beds and room are nicely decorated, but the beds were literally pushed against each other.

I was generally satisfied with my rooming accommodation, and for a university-funded trip, almost expected less. The bathroom is good sized, though the hair dryer looks more like a vacuum cleaner extension set on inverse, The fridge comes fully stocked with beverages, if you choose to indulge, but remember it will cost you on your final bill!

After an hour or so to settle in, we made our way pretty directly to Notre Dame Cathedral, where we explored the church, took pictures, and walked along the Seine and a good 2 miles of the Champs-Élysées. It was like London, minus the jetlag, added the travel fatigue, and more walking.

The group by the Seine in daylight.

Notre Dame from the distance. Parisian traffic, tsk.

Outside the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Arc de Triomphe. We walked here.

And took a group picture. Many, actually, but this was the only decent one.

Men talking near the fake lake in the gardens at the Champ-Élysées.

Day 7 was the day of the bank holiday, which meant in clear UK fashion, most things were closed and people got the day off. General jetlag and tiredness were overcoming us slowly, and so we split into various groups and trickled out of the flat in small groups once again. My group left a little later than some others and had only one target: Camden Town and its markets.

I took no pictures today, being a little photo-whored out, but I did make most of my gift purchases that day and had an interesting sandwich at a very normal-seeming bar that served the very goth-based clientle that seemed to permeate Camden Town. Ladies, if you’re ever looking for old-style platform leather boots or corsets, this is your destination. Trinkets, and the usual market mish-mash are also relevant, but the former because it makes this place unique.

Things I got? A purse, posters, crystal soil, a wine-glass made out of a recycled beer bottle, cloth-wrapped bead bracelets, and a pocket watch that I will probably wear as a necklace in the future.

We were up a little earlier on Day 8. We decided to take a look at London’s infamous Soho, which is not an acronym, first thing in the morning. The girls and I almost decided to take a peak at one of their curious adult-themed shops, but turned back as soon as three heavy, gruff looking men exited their chain-draped door. Whoops.

This picture expresses Soho, London in a manner a little bit cleaner than some other picture might.

Instead, we found ourselves in a vintage magazine-meet ex-redlight district: lots of old Playboy magazines, some Vogue ones, tons of vinyl, and some crude postcards.

From there, however, we stepped up our class and headed for Kensington Palace, home of many princesses.

Queen Victoria statue on the far side of the palace, depicted in the background.

Waiting in line to be seated.

The day was cloudy as usual, and the line wasn’t too bad. We split into 2 groups of 6 to be seated, which all happened quickly, though the manner in which the host addressed us could have been a shade or so more friendly.

You don't need to purchase tickets for Kensington Palace to eat at The Orangery, a restaurant in the palace itself touting tons of deserts and teas perfect for high tea!

A sneak look at some of the other guests at the Orangery.

In a fitting manner, the centerpieces are little orange trees. Their specialty is Roobois tea, made out of oranges. Frankly, a bit strong and overpowering in the orange for me.

Next we continued our slow ascent into the flamboyant by looking up (and speed touring) Harrods, which has just changed management. Are the new owners as flamboyant as the old? The decor doesn’t seem to have changed, though I had trouble locating their touted 400,000 Pound [Sterling] rock (and I don’t mean diamond or weight) in the huge maze.

Since we couldn’t afford anything from the actual store, we went down to Harrod’s own gift shop and purchased a musical bear for our director’s new son, who was also the reason of his absence from being our chaperone.

Everyone loved the bar so much that they all decided to get one as gifts for family or friends with new babies!

Tuesday also happened to be student night at one of the clubs we looked up, Tiger Tiger. We made a mad rush to make it by 11pm to get the student discount price of 5 Pounds. If you ever visit the place, head downstairs immediately. I have a silly picture of me dancing in the awesome groovy-themed 70s discotheque that I will not be showing.

It rained a lot again on Day 9, but we were prepared because our company visit with Winterflood Securities, provided us with these awesome umbrellas. Unfortunately, though sturdy, these umbrellas were also bulky and heavy, and a great many did not make it out of the flat on the last day. Many towels didn’t either.

Let’s just keep moving on through the days as I make a power-post of the final few days in London. Day 10 was uneventful so far as the touristy goes, though we did visit KPMG, one of the Big 4 Accounting firms. As our final full day in London, we did some R&R before we headed off for, rather perfectly symmetrically, for Picadilly Circus once more, this time to catch our 7pm Les Mis showing, our 30 Pound rush tickets in hand.

We headed out at staggered times, and most of us ended at the Tower eventually. The deciding factor? Sleeping in a couple extra hours!

Saturday was our first day completely free of company visits, so we decided to fill it up to the brim to make the most of the trip. We began with the Tower of London, and a sky to match the mood: overcast and pending rain.

Here is a rather side-swiped view of the Tower of London. There were no lines, strangely, probably because the weather got so horrid.

We made a beeline for the Crown Jewels before we headed back to the entrance to join a Beefeater tour. I heard that they’d instated their first female Beefeater recently, and the men were giving her a bad time. We did not see her though.

This nice Beefeater guide put up with us through our dancing umbrellas and ushered us into the chapel when the rain came down too hard.

The Tower Bridge

After we left, we saw this parade heading into the tower.

A couple hours of that and we were all ready to get inside and eat something warm. Naturally, we chose the Wagamama’s right outside the Tower complex.

One restaurant that was perfectly okay with accommodating 15 of us. A couple boys went to get Subway, heh.

The secret to not getting fat on vacation? Lots and lots of walking. Also, skimping on less necessary meals by getting Tesco pastries for breakfast so as to conserve my sterling for more touristy adventures.

London Bridge is most certainly not falling down, and if we hadn't already known it to be a disappointment, we would have been disappointed.

We had better formation in the first shot, though I was instructed not to show that one because of strange facial expressions and unposed and therefore awkward hand positioning.

This walk was directed towards the Tate Modern, but a few of us took a short detour and headed through the Borough Markets. So delicious with so much food, but alas, we could not tarry.

Squid on a stick?

Hmm, cider. A-hem.

The Millennium Bridge in front of the Tate Modern, however, did meet its demise in the sixth Harry Potter film. Look at that spindly thing!

The Tate Modern boasted free entry and massive architecture. Tate 2 - MoMA - 0.

Space! Lots and lots of it inside the museum.

My favorite tate installation. The weird lumps on the ground are primordial beings, and the big thing is a lightning representation of some sort. Also, I appreciated the context the Tate provided for most of their exhibits, something the MoMA refuses to do. Again, Tate - 3, MoMA - 0. I like art with some intent, because it focuses emotion.

We headed to the Globe Theatre to pick up the tickets our director reserved for us to watch Macbeth. Excitement!

The actual replica, and not the ticket office.

So we had what is technically considered the “cheap seats” – at 5 pounds per person with standing room only. However, I considered it to be the best seats, because they provided this mysterious head canopy for the audience to poke their head through and watch [and experience] the show up close and personal. Meaning when there was fake blood, that got splattered on us. When the witches moved? Our legs got brushed against. When a bucket of water was thrown at the audience? Oh, that landed on me. My fault really, I shouldn’t have made us a target by ducking.

These canopies were definitely not waterproof, however, since the weather, continuing with its pathetic fallacies, decided to match the play. It was pouring throughout the last few acts. But since I'd been soaked early on and had ducked under the overhang to dry after my spot was stolen during intermission, I remained relatively ok.