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euro what we did trip pix oh fabulous! |
AP Euro~Spring Break 2001 London-Paris-Florence-Rome weds, march 28 thurs, march 29 fri, march 30 sat, march 31 sun, april 1 mon, april 2 tues, april 3 weds, april 4 thurs, april 5
1. Wednesday, March 28 all went to school in the morning... or you were supposed to. met at airport check-in 5pm... no disasters- Delta flight 36 to London-Gatwick airport, about 6-7 hours long (flew through the night). lost 6 hours through the time change.
2. Thursday, March 29 no lost luggage and customs took probably under 10 min. drove to the Cumberland Hotel, 4-star by the Marble Arch on Oxford St- shopping street. most people slept on the coach driving through suburban London while Daniel gave us our intro. waited in hotel lobby next to cafe express, people sleeping on the floor... as our rooms were prepared. then, 3 hrs of free time- most people slept again; those who went to get food favored mcdonalds... christine and i went shopping for 3 hrs =) daniel took us for a walking tour of London's highlights- the underground was on strike: Hyde Park, Green Park, Grosveners Park, birthplace of Queen Elizabeth II, the Ritz, Picadilly Circus Trafalgar's Square... had more free time to go shopping on oxford st... most people ended up running to get back to the hotel since the street was sooo long. dinner at a restaurant/bar: potatoes-- we, the last table got 3 instead of 4... salmon, cheesecake... (how do i remember this stuff!?) more shopping, shops open til 9 on thurs... back to hotel, took forevverrr to figure out phones, some cards just never worked. and then, a good night's sleep.
3. Friday, March 30
breakfast 7-9 at the carvery or cafe in the hotel, then sightseeing tour of London by bus and by walking... guide Liz Ruben was quite amazed that we americans had somewhat of a sense of humor... historical background of London-- England only has victories & she Acquires, doesn't steal. crossed some bridges... Liecster Square, St. Paul's Cathedral- symbol of London during WWII & 2nd largest cathedral after St. Peters, Russia; Tower of London & the preacher... we're all damned, except for Cole; residence of Charles/William/Henry; Buckingham Palace & changing of the guard. then we split into 2 groups; tower of london or westminster abby/war cabinet rooms. the groups met together, took the underground to Covent Garden for dinner at a english pseudo-mexican place (fish & chips, veggie fajitas) walked to the theatre to see "Woman in Black", disturbing play, iinnnteresting sound effects... excellent acting.
4. Saturday, March 31
breakfast at 630 in the cafe, drove to Canterbury where Thomas a Becket was murdered. free time in & around Canterbury Cathedral, some people got piercings... drove to Dover, England and saw the famous white cliffs (conjuring thoughts of the Scarlet Pimpernel); long wait (30-min delay) for Hovercraft across English Channel, last minute spending of English coins/converting money to Francs. choppy water caused very interesting, staggering walking. some tried to sleep, some played cards, some signed barf bags. arrived in France, lost an hour to the time change, "customs" in France consisted of 1 thing: stepping on a disinfectant mat (prevention of foot & mouth). Coach to Paris during which we had this nice monologue (click here) stopped in restaurant that looked like... who knows... they wouldn't let us touch anything; veggies had mysterious pasta-lookalike vegetable stuff. but the applesauce was good. most people's first impressions of paris baaddd (we were just in not-so-great a location... with our holeinthewall hotel, "Grand" hotel de normandie) wandered around for about 30 min then went to sleep.
5. Sunday, April 1
lost an hour Cinci time to Daylight Savings (most people never noticed).
French tour guide: Excursion to Versailles (where we followed around the Chinese tour groups... how tao yen tah...) Versailles gardens... here begins the annoying street vendors. lunch around Versailles. attempted april fools jokes saying the bus drivers were on strike... hmm... "Kodak Moments" at the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe; Notre Dame, flying buttresses, & free time around there; walked forevverr along the Seine River to get to dinner by the Opera. Really nice restaurant though! went up to Sacre Coeur, a church overlooking Paris. Paris by Night tour-- pretty pretty! (if u werent sleeping) climbed (not literally... it was an elevator...) the Eiffel Tower with the new flashing lights--gorgeous view of paris, city of lights. more street vendors that look like egg rolls and smell like fried rice. mrs ray collected the lighters people had bought... made quite a big pile.
6. Monday, April 2 woke up bright & early to go to the Louvre, saw the little tiny, encased Mona Lisa, and wandered aimlessly in circles. we divided into separate groups: stayed at the Louvre/went to Napoleon's tomb & shopping/went shopping by the Opera... all met back at the steps of the Opera 4:30-- no one disappeared! dinner, then the adventure to catch the train. we got back nice and early and waited for the coach by the square across from our hotel. some of the girls found a french guy to talk with and got his address too... he had reaaaally bad teeth. the coach got there more than an hour later. we arrived literally ON time... as in no seconds to spare, with the train leaving at 730... we ran around lugging random suitcases. very unique exprience. we accidentally got first class train tickets... after locating our own suitcases, settled in w/ 4 to a cabin, ate the sandwiches mr ray had bought for dinner, learned italian from an italian guy who smoked too much... tons of fun.
7. Tuesday, April 3
Wakey Wakey! Pisa by Dawn Tour! coach to Pisa car park, took a strange 2-segment shuttle thing to breakfast- croissants/donuts & coffee/latte. went out to the leaning tower & took pictures, shopped for souveniers. coach to Empoli outside of Florence. arrived at hotel in Empoli... really really nice rooms (esp compared to Paris). dropped off suitcases and went to Florence by coach. took the professional picture overlooking Florence. guided tour w/ an italian man in a red coat... of the Duomo and Santa Croce- churches. saw where gallileo gallilei and rossini were buried... free time around Florence... leather coats, belts, purses... some went to see Michelangelo's David in the Academia. awesome dinner- italian pasta... & we discovered gelato... ice cream yummm. 45 min to get ready for the disco... and 5 people in our suite. quite amusing. apparently we blew the fuse with the hairdryer too. the disco was fun... although the inhalation of various fumes scents was rather annoying... and we went back reeking of pot.
8. Wednesday, April 4
stopped at a souvenier/food store along the way to Assisi where St. Francis was born. visited the Basillica in Assisi and walked uphill with little souvenier shops along the way. drove to rome, arrived for dinner. now dinner... dinner was interesting. the mrs ray got groped incident... yes need we say more? went to hotel rooms and slept. travel day.
9. Thursday, April 5
last day!! guided tour in Rome: Vatican Museum. our nice tour guide... rosa. saw the sistine chapel where no pictures are allowed... ahem ahem. took a bus down the street to the national monument building that mussolini had built, saw the balcony from which he gave speeches. walked to see the roman ruins... pagan temples, forum, ended up at colosseum. 3 hrs free time to shop or go in the colosseum... irina gets asked to prom! =) tori, christine, and i managed to find trevi fountain by accident... then we met back in front of the colosseum and took the italian metro to dinner... quite an experience- about 5 attempted pickpockets, no disasters though... we survived. dinner with really good bread... haha. and lines for the bathrooms. walking tour to the spanish steps, where joel made his memorable jump into the fountain... trevi fountain... we threw our coins & wished to return... pantheon... found a drunk guy and matt morin sang with him. we had ice cream, guys bought roses for girls... good last day. then bus tour of rome by night; daniel sang the scottish national anthem and recited his scottish poem... then awards ceremony and all that good stuff back at the hotel. lotsa people stayed up the last night...
10. Friday, April 6
Cincinnati
woke up at 6, had breakfast and packed up to leave europe... airport standing in line... shopped at the random stores or fell asleep. plane ride was 9 1/2 hrs but seemed a lot shorter than the one to england. 2 movies: pay it forward and men of honor. arrived at detroit wayne county airport... customs asked nothing... except "how are you today?"... rechecked luggage and packed into a little tiny overheated bus transportation thing to get to the terminal. continued to burn up waiting for our airplane... then got on that, flew down to cinci, circled around cincinnati for half an hour, and finally landed. missed europe... but still good to be home =)
walking walking walking ~ preacher at the Tower of London ~ walking in zigzags on the boat ~ red light district of paris ~ arriving exactly on time for the train ~ Pisa by Dawn Tour ~ beautiful Florence ~ disco ~ Azzini ~ Italian singers at the restaurant ~ too many gelatos ~ Joel IN the clean Roman aqueduct water ~ drunk guy at Pantheon
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