Goodbye London, Bonjour Paris----Paris day 1

Welcome to the amazing and romantic world of Paris (photos later)

Today I got up at 5am in the morning so I could travel from Oxford to London then to Paris.

I took the Oxford Tube (15 pounds ticket for student within a 3 month returning period) that left Queen’s Lane at 5:52 to London Victoria station. It took about 100 minutes for the coach travel. On our way to Victoria station, we passed by Hyde Park and saw a very pretty fountain! Finally, we reached the bus stop at Victoria station. We walked about 100 yards from the bus stop to the Victoria Underground/ London Tube station.

My first impression of the London Tube: hectic!!! Even hectic doesn’t really give it justice! There were people EVERYWHERE coming from ALL directions and they all knew exactly where they are going. It’s was organized madness. I got my ticket (single in zone 1) for 4 pounds and took the Victoria Line North, which is on platform 3, for 5 stops. The 5^th stop is King’s Cross St. Pancras rail stations. To clarify, King’s cross and St. Pancras are two different rail stations that happen to be built next to each other. Thus, you get off on the same Tube stop for both stations. Many great things about navigating the London Tube are the officials are friendly and always know the answers (in my experiences), the signs are quite clear (kind of because they don’t tell you if the tube line is north/south/east/west just the name of the line), map is a must and the Tube is very fast and efficient! Basically since I survived my first Tube experience with little to no difficulties I am rather biased in my opinions of the Tube.

Anyway, I got off at King’s Cross St. Pancras tube stop and followed the sign to St. Pancras Rail Station. The station is very clean, modern and bright. Since I didn’t print out my Eurostar ticket at home, I had to print it out at the station, which was no trouble at all for printing my ticket! It looks like an airplane ticket. After getting the ticket, it was time to find the departure area. There is an Eurostar departure and arrival gates in St. Pancras. I entered the check-in area for Eurostar, the next thing is security and scanning luggage as if you were in an airport. Then I had to go through EU border (so passport is required!!!) The border agent ended with “merci, mademoiselle!” It was then I realized I am on my way to Paris!!

When it was time to board the train, the train was located at platform 6. I was in coach 17 seat 11. It turned out that it was the beginning of the train! I sat next to this beautiful British lady who is a freelance fashion agent that organizes fashion shows. And one incredible thing about her is that she has actually seen Catherine Middleton, Pippa Middleton and Carol Middleton in real life!!!! How amazing is that!?  I guess the Duchess was shopping at a lingerie shop that this British lady works in and she was there when, then Catherine stopped by for shopping. This is another extraordinary moment I have had in England and it started out with simple conversation. It’s amazing how much people are willing to share cool parts of their lives with you. I’m very honored!

The train ride was about 2.5 hours from London to Paris. I arrived at Paris Gare du nord station at local time 12:47. Paris is one hour faster than London.  I waited in line for Taxi, but the line was so long that I decided to just walk around and find a street and hail a cab there. My destination: Tim Hotel Tour Eiffel. Since I don’t speak any French beside the usual “bonjour”, “au revoir” and so forth and the taxi driver didn’t speak any English. It was quite an interesting car ride. He was able to point out many things along the car ride while I was looking at the map. My self-taught French saved me a little (just a little, like tiny bit) when he was telling all the different famous attractions.

Eventually I arrived at the hotel, checked in. It’s a nice and simple hotel, but a hotel nonetheless. After setting my things down, I went out for a lunch/dinner. My first meal in Paris: French Onion Soup!!!!! It was delicious, of course, but very expensive. According to the menu, it was only an appetizer dish and it cost me 8.7 euros! It’s so expensive! The server didn’t get us tap water, so the water from the bottle also cost me some money……

After the quick lunch, I decided to walk around. One reason that I chose this hotel was its proximity to Eiffel Tower. And it is very very true. As I followed my map, it was a mere 20 minute walk from my hotel to Eiffel Tower. It was such a magical, magnificent and overwhelming sensation as Eiffel tower appeared before my eyes so huge, so powerful, yet so romantic!!! No photos that I took can do any justice to how amazing it is! There are lifts that you can go up to the top of the tower and every single lift (4 total) was lined with seas of people.  So I knew that I wasn’t going to waste my time lining up, not yet, at least.

After looking at the Eiffel Tower, the group of us decided to take a bus tour around Paris. We went on this red double decker with an open top. This is a “hop on, hop off” tour bus, which means you could hop on anytime and hop off at any location whenever you feel like it. The fare was 26 euros  and we could use our ticket for 2 days. There are both sides to the bus tour. The good side is that you get to see the major tourist attraction of Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tour, Arc de triumphe, Invalides, Pont Nouf, etc) without sweats. The downside is the price. I semi-enjoyed the tour, it got me to all the major attractions in about 2.5 hours and I was able to take lots of photos. I finished the whole tour instead of hopping off anywhere. For a self-traveler, it’s a good way to see Paris but an expensive one.

After our bus tour, we walked back to our hotel for a quick rest. Then we were off to a boat tour/cruise. There are many boat tours in Paris and all boats travel on Seine. There is a range of boat tour in Paris, from the one-hour site tour (that generally costs around 11-12 euros) to private cruise with lunch/dinner (champagne and so forth) that could cost up to 100+ euros. We did a one-hour tour with Bateaux Parisiens at 12 euros. (This is only one story, one example) I didn’t really enjoy the tour and there are couple reasons. One, by “luck” there were many teenagers that happened to be on our boat, who made loud noises and just very annoying. Second, unless you were lucky enough to sit close to the side of the boat, you can’t really see the whole buildings. Third, I had to remain seated the entire time, which didn’t help with photo taking. With that said, there were some good things. One the tour was interesting. Second, you get to see the bridges in close proximity (there are 14 bridges across Seine in Paris). Third, watching all those people sitting on the bank, picnicking, talking, dancing, and waving at them was pretty fun. One fantastic surprise that came with the boat tour was when we were docking at the end of the tour, we saw the Eiffel Tower glittered. It was so beautiful, magnificent and romantic that I was so star-struck. It was a moment where I couldn’t believe I was REALLY in Paris, but the glittering Eiffel Tower said otherwise. Overall, I wished I had done more research into this. I didn’t plan on having a boat tour, but the girls that traveled with me wanted to.

After the one-hour boat tour, it was around 2200. My friend Clara and I decided to check out the lines at Eiffel Tower again because we simply can’t miss having the opportunity to go inside and up the Eiffel Tower. Sure enough, the lines were much shorter, way shorter than in the morning, so we lined up! Unfortunately, when it was our turn to buy the ticket, the (very) top/tip of Eiffel Tower was closed, so we could only take the lift to 2^nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, which was still very high up. It’s my strong recommendation that you book your ticket in advance online. You can choose when you want to go too! My ticket was a reduced ticket (Youth 4-24) which cost 6.6 euros to go up to 2^nd floor (which is 3^rd floor in America). Then we were off to the lift. The lift moved diagonally following the pillars of the Tower. It was very strange moving in that direction and kind of scary as you slowly ascend up. But the night views of Paris were DEFINITELY worth the wait. It was INCREDIBLE (please repeat that in all possible languages)!!! The wind was blowing kind of strongly and a bit chilly, but the views…..the lights were shined everywhere, although I could barely make out the most notable attractions. It was definitely a Ratatouille moment (for those that have seen the movie). Paris at night: beautiful. Paris at night from Eiffel Tower: stunning!! It was just magnificent.

This was my first day of Paris. Simply (or not simply) breathtaking.  I hate to say this but Paris is definitely a city you have to experience it yourself. This city of Love, Light and Romance is full of great beauty everywhere and all the time. From a tourist’s perspective, this city has so much to offer: its history, its architecture, its arts, its food, its people. I have only been in Paris for one day and I was in love. How can you not?! I think Paris was done a great job of welcoming me on my first day. 

With lots of Parisian love + bless                    

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II---Edinburgh Day 2 conti

I'm so so so so sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have been sick. I am recovering from a food poisoning (will blog about it later). So I haven't had time to do anything but sleep and rest.
So, last entry I included two photos of the Queen. I had to zoom in like crazy to get those shots. The Queen was NOT close to me at all!!! So, that's my excuse for fuzzy photos. To top the photos, here is the address that the Queen gave that I recorded.

 

Hopefully this would make up for delay. My huge apology!!!!!

Thus, we can begin my second day in Edinburgh (July 2, 2011):

I woke up early on Saturday because I knew the first place I wanted to visit was the Edinburgh Castle. Obviously, when you hear the word castle, you know there would be lines! So, of course being the crazy person (or uper prepared :P) that I am, I had to beat the lines! My breakfast was included as part of my stay at Pollock Halls (once again, I love the place). The breakfast was the first HOT breakfast I had in over a week. I couldn't be happier! One particular thing that I want to introduce to you all is the black circular thing on the upper left hand corner. It is haggis. It is a traditional Scottish food. I had it for the first meal in Edinburgh and I didn't realize they would have it for breakfast as well. I really really like it, despite the fact that it's made out of lamb/sheep organs. It was very tasty. (side note: I didn't finish all of my breakfast, I snuggled the bread out to be my lunch, bahaha!) 

My first HOT breakfast in a week!

After breakfast, I left my hotel immediately. I had plenty of time and I planned on using it to wander around the city in the early morning without any tourists, cars,buses or noise. Here is a photo of a castle-wanna-be that is located within the vicinity of all the residence halls. I think it's a restaurant/up-scale dining hall now. I didn't go in, but it looked gorgeous from the outside. 

Castle turn dining hall

One of the great things about Pollock Halls is the area where it's situated. It's about 25-30 minute walk from Edinburgh city centre and close to is this amazing highlands:

See the highland/mountains in the back?!

The highland is actually called Salisbury crags that is part of the Holyrood Park in Edinburgh city. There is a path that you could hike up to the top to look at the Edinburgh city, but I did not have the gear or time to hike up there, but I did go up to another hill that I will explain later (yup, that's right, keep you hanging!). So, I began my wandering around. The first place I walked by was The Meadow (as it is printed on my map). The Meadow was actually really huge, I only walked around 1/4 of its circumference. There were many playing tennis already when I was there (Wimbledon was well under its way), people jogging, dogs running. It was such a nice morning. It was a great start to my day!! After walking through The Meadow, I walked through the University of Edinburgh, but honestly I wasn't sure which buildings are which because they were having massive construction.

Part of University of Edinburgh (?) 

 One thing about traveling without a tour guide or group travel is that you encounter city like Edinburgh, you are lost in its magnificent buildings but you have no idea what they are. It is a downside I would say, but the upside is the reward of walking around the city with a simple map on your hand and able to conquer all that you have planned (without getting lost). This is what I love about (semi)-solo travel! There is no deadline, no "let's meet here at this time", the amount of freedom allows me to do what I want! Ok, back to my walk:
So after passing the University of Edinburgh, I passed my the Museum of Scotland (free admission), which unfortunately I didn't have time to go in:

 The museum has a very modern look on the outside, yet the materials it used allow the museum to blend in very well all of the historic buildings surrounding it! Apparently Dolly the sheep is in there (miss it :( )
(to be continued...sorry)

Her Majest Queen Elizabeth II-----Edinburgh day 2

Just a quick post because this is quite amazing!

My shot of Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Phillip)

Journey to Edinburgh beings....day 1

Friday July 1, 2011. Edinburgh here I come....
I woke up early this morning so I can catch my 8:36 train from Oxford to Edinburgh.
To get to the Oxford Rail Station [OXF] I had to take the Red bus #8 to city centre then transferred to Red bus #5. This trip to Edinburgh allowed me to finally use my Britrail Flexi Pass, which I can't wait.
So here are the logistics on Britrail Flexi Pass (as I am speaking from experience):

1. Your pass must be validated before you use it. I purchased my Britrail Pass via Rick Steves and received my pass in the mail in the US. Britrail pass could only be purchased on of the UK, can't find them here. To validate your pass, bring your Britrail Pass with your passport to any ticket counter in any station. The ticket master will write your passport number on your pass, ask you to sign it in front of him/her (so don't sign it beforehand) and stamp your pass with date and validation. After validation, you are good to go.
2. Railpass = ticket, so don't purchase any ticket. On the day of your travel, walk toward the entry gate with a ticket master, write down the date of your travel, (so, I wrote July 1st on my pass when I left Oxford). Then show it to the master, s/he will let you in. 
3. Now, you have successfully entered the station, so find the right platform!

Note: I didn't reserve any seats, most of the time, there are seats available for non-reservers, so you don't really have to. Also, you can always buy "Today's ticket" for a cheaper price than advanced purchase. But I always check my train schedule ahead of time on the webstie for trip planning.

So, I entered the [OXF] and found platform 2, which is where my train will be.One thing I noticed about the British rails is that there are many different rail companies operating different routes. I was on the crosscountry co. rail that covers most UK across the country.

Oxford station platform 2

My train

The train I took left Oxford at 8:36, there would be one transfer along the way to arrive successfully at Edinburgh. Here was the first part of the route we took, the final destination of this train was Manchester:
Oxford-Banbury-Leamington Spa-Coventry- Birmingham International-Birmingham New Street

It took about an hour and ten minutes from Oxford to Birmingham New Street. 
Then we transferred at Birmingham New Street to catch another train. We caught a second train, whose final destination was Glasgow Central (we didn't know at the time that this bus traveled on the longer route, we just jumped on this train because it was right there and we didn't have to wait):
Birmingham New St.-Derby- Chesterfield- Sheffield- Wakefield Westgate- Leeds- York- Darlington- Durham- Newcastle- Alnmouth- Berwick (-upon-Tweed)- Edinburgh

York Rail station platform

Darlington Rail station

Castle in Darlington, seen just outside rail station

Town of Alnmouth, possibly

The second half of the route was very very long, we got on the bus at 10:03 and we didn't arrive in Edinburgh til around 15:00. But since the train traveled along the coast of the British isle, we were able to see some water from Alnmouth to Edinburgh. It was spectacular:

Beginning to see the Scottish Highlands

Finally we arrived at the Edinburgh Rail Station [EDB], which was PACKED with people. It finally hit me that I was going to the Capital of Scotland, it's a big city, not a city like Oxford.

Edinburgh Rail Station, busy as crazy! parts are under construction

We then walked out of the rail station and tried to find the Traveler's Information Center, so we can get maps and information on the city. But once we got out the station, I was so overwhelmed and star-struck by the awesomeness I was seeing. Very different from Oxford, the buildings in Edinburgh appeared old because the stones were so dark and lack cleaning (whereas, Oxford buildings were restored).

There won't just a couple of buildings, there were TONS of these buildings near the city. I was so excited, overwhelmed and worried that 3 days were just not enough time to look at this historical and beautiful city. I was basically in sensory overload: too many magnificent buildings, too many people, too many cars, so much noise....I needed to find the Traveler's Center to help ease my mind. 

The people at the Tourist centre was extremely helpful!! The lady, Fay, helped us figured how to get to where we are staying, where to go (for free) in just three days. And she even told us that the Queen is here in Edinburgh!

Yup, you heard/read it right! The Queen of UK is in Edinburgh the same weekend I am here! Hooray! How lucky is this!? I can't believe it!!!! Apparently, earlier today, there was a procession of moving the Crown Jewels of Scotland from the Edinburgh Castle to Palace of Holyroadhouse down the Royal Mile,  where the Queen is staying when she is here. Even though I miss that, the GREATEST news is that the Queen is making a public address tomorrow in the Holyroad Park and it's a free event! This just means that I am going to see the Queen! Really!? I have to shout this out, "I am going to see the Queen~~~~~" This is such an amazing timing and luck. It's incredible how things just work out and how fantastic it is. Who knew that while I was in Edinburgh for just three days, I would be able to see the Queen in person. My British-o-meter is through the roof!

After gathering this information, we left the Tourist Centre and started walking towards our "hotels". But we first stopped by for an early dinner. We went to Whiski, which is located on High Street. I ordered Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, and was ready to try some Scottish Whiskey:

Haggis, Neeps, Tatties

"Sweet and mild" whiskey

 Haggis, Neeps and Tatties are traditional Scottish food, it is really made of ground lamb, cheese, and mashed potato with chives(?) on top and a Scottish biscuit on the side. It was really delicious even though the names are really weird. And then the whiskey, I asked the (very handsome) server for an "easy" whiskey for beginners like me, he replied "something sweet and mild". But when he handed me this whiskey, there is NOTHING mild about it. When he put the glass down, I could smell how strong the whiskey was inches away, that strong liquor smell just diffused like crazy! I am pretty sure the alcohol content was at least 8% maybe more, it was so strong! But it was sweet. I managed to drink about half of it and eventually just couldn't handle it. My lips were kind of numb, lol.

After dinner we walked to Pollock Hall, where I would be staying for two nights. It's about a 25-30 minute walk from Edinburgh city centre. And it's definitely worth the walk. I booked my "hotel" almost last minute and found this place. Pollock Hall is a residence hall belonging to the University of Edinburgh. I paid 66 GBP for two nights with breakfast for a single room. It was not a bad deal at all once I saw my room:

The (dorm) room is very spacious, clean and well maintained, and yes I have a sink in my room. This is very typical of British dorm. The shower room is very clean too. The area where this hall is located is great, it's among other residence hall in a quiet area just off the busy city. I highly highly recommend anyone who wish to travel here to book this place. I am LOVING the room I got. It's worth that 66 pounds. Now we just have to see how breakfast will be....

So, here is the preview for my second day in Edinburgh:
Visiting the Edinburgh Castle at 9:30
Walk the Royal Mile and visit St. Giles ('jiles') Cathedral on the Royal Mile
Stop by the Palace of Holyroadhouse
Go to the Queen's public address at Holyroad Park

Note: I will post a link for an Edinburgh city map

until next time
bless + cheers+ love

Quick update and organization

A huge thank you to my friends and family who read my blogs! Sorry for the late posting recently.
There are couple things I still need to post

1. Day 3 and Day 4 of my time in Oxford
2. Second half of Day 5, which should be about what I did before I went to the King James Bible Exhibtion
3. Day 6 and Day 7 of my time in Oxford
4. My weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Oh geez, looks like I have a lot to get through, hahaha.
So warning, I will try my best to post them in order, but fear not, I will indicate the date of when things happen :)