“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

Our last stop on our whirlwind spring break trip was my favorite city on Earth, Paris, France. Bright and early on Thursday morning we said cheerio to Johnny, who squealed back at us and wished us luck in Paris. We scooted to the airport and hopped on our plane. When we arrived in Paris we hopped on a bus to our hotel and stared in wonder at all the lovely sites we passed on the way to the Opera Garnier (where the Phantom of the Opera was supposed to have taken place). From there our hotel was supposed to be walking distance. Unfortunately, the street it was located on was not on our map. We wandered forever and ended up eventually hopping in a cab. We are sooo stupid because the cab driver completely took us for a ride, literally. We had been five feet from the entrance to the street our hotel was located on, but the driver drove around for about ten minutes and dropped us off in nearly the same spot, for seven euro. Woops.
The Hotel Corona Opera was very impressive, though not quite as lovely as the Grand Canal Hotel, of course. We took a quick rest and freshened up, then went out for a tasty dinner. We ate at a restaurant right down the street and then went to our new favorite pub on earth, O’Sullivans, a five minute walk from the hotel. That night a live band was playing and they were SO good. They played some of my favorite songs- System of a Down, Pink Floyd, and, best of all, they did a cover of Kings of Leon “Sex on Fire.” Amy fell in love with the lead singer and stood drooling in front of him the entire night. We had an awesome time and met some great people, then returned to our humble abode for a good night’s sleep.
The next morning we were reading for some sight-seeing! Our first stop was the Louvre, where we spent the entire morning. We saw my favorite sculpture of all-time, the Nike of Samothrace. It was stunning as ever. The Mona Lisa was as unimpressive as ever- no bigger than a postage stamp. After the Louvre we had a tasty lunch and sat on the grass in the Touleries Gardens.
We next went on a BUS TOUR of course. This was my least favorite of the three bus tours we did, but it was still enjoyable. We saw all of Paris’ sites, including L’Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. We got off at Notre Dame and went to Shakespeare and Company, my favorite book store. The store was opened by Sylvia Beach, who always opened her doors to writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and other famous writers of her time when they were in need of shelter.
That night we went out for another delicious dinner that night on the Champs Elysees. On our way there we were walking by the Galeries Lafayette, a huge department store behind the Opera, when I notice a small Asian woman walking next to me staring at us. She was smiling and saying in a French accent “Bad girls. Bad girls. Look at the bad girls. Bad girls.” Caroline and Amy noticed too and we hurried away from her. We had no idea why she was saying that to us. A little while later we were getting into the cab and she suddenly walks by again and goes “Ooo! Zer are zee bad girls! Bad girls!” We got in the cab and sped off, laughing hysterically. That night we ended up at O’Sullivans again. Though there was no band this night, we had yet another wonderful time and met some fascinating people. I headed back to the hotel before the other two girls and got a great night’s sleep.
The next day it was back on the bus to see more sites. We did not get off until we reached the Musee D’Orsay, my number one all-time favorite museum in the universe. Here we saw breathtaking paintings from artists such as Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, Whistler, Caillebotte, and many more. After this the girls went into L’Orangerie while I sat outside in the sun and people-watched. I had seen this museum during my last visit to Paris and didn’t feel the need to go in again. This museum was built specially for Monet’s Water Lilly paintings.
After the museums we walked all the way to Montmartre and climbed all the way up to Sacre Coeur before the sun set. It was crowded with people drinking, talking, resting, and playing music. The view from the top is absolutely incredible. It is my favorite place in Paris besides the D’Orsay, and I was so glad I got to bring the girls there.
That night we went to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle at night. It was a wonderful site, and something I did not get to see during my last visit. We then went out for our final quiet dinner in Paris. After that we went to find a different Irish Pub we had heard of called Kitty O’Shea’s. After searching for a little while with no success we ended up returning to O’Sullivans, the staple of our trip. That night there was a great DJ named Rudy who LOVED Amy. We hung by him the whole night requesting songs and chatting with Rudy. It was an excellent way to end the perfect spring break. We went to bed that night with smiles on our faces.
Overall this trip was exhausting, but well worth all the trouble. We saw some amazing places that I may never have been able to visit otherwise; we ate foods both good and bad, had pleasant surprises and slight disappointments, and overall gained some rewarding life experiences. I loved travelling with Amy and Caroline, and will surely be telling stories from our trip for years to come. Thanks to my wonderful parents, I was able to make the most out of my time in Europe. I hope to do it all again someday, and you should too!

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

Sorry for the long delay. Let me tell you about LONDON!
We left Dublin mid afternoon on Monday, and took a quick flight over to London. From the Airport we took a train to Westminster, where we wandered around aimlessly looking for our hotel. The people of London were not quite as friendly as those in Dublin, but it didn't matter because they had great accents. We eventually found our quaint little hotel, The Westminster House Hotel, down a lovely little road. We entered the front door and were greeted by one of the strangest men I have ever encountered. His name was Johnny, and he is one of the owners of the little hotel. He looked normal enough, with brown hair, average build, and a friendly face, dressed in a nice suit. What made Johnny unique was his voice. When he first started to speak his voice was at a normal octave, but as his sentence went on it increased an octave with each word until he was literally squealing instead of speaking real words. At first I was really thrown off and frightened, but after a while it just seemed funny and I was struggling to hold back my laughter.
Johnny brought us down to a little study in the basement where he had a fire blazing in the fireplace and books scattered about the room. He squealed to us a bit about the hotel's amenities and told us our two friends, Alyssa and Alexa, had not checked in yet. We all happened to be going to London the same days and decided to stay in the same hotel!
Johnnyasked if we would need help with our bags and we said no- a decision we would later regret. We had to lug our heavy suitcases up ninety-million flights of steep stairs. My arms were nearly severed from my body by the time we reached our room. At first glance it looked nice enough, but soon we realized everything was covered by a fine black powder. This hotel did not even COMPARE to the Grand Canal Hotel in Dublin. It was a shame we had to stay there first because it set our standards very high. Caroline and Amy reported the disgusting mess to Johnny before we left. He squealed that it must be left over from the artist who stayed there before us. What does that mean? Do they not clean the rooms between guests? It was strange, but it didn't matter because when we got back later that night everything was sparkling clean thanks to Johnny Boy.
We wandered around London for the evening; saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Portsmouth Abbey, all of which were very close to our hotel. We ate dinner at a strange little Pub with gross food, and then went back to the hotel. We briefly chatted with Alyssa and Alexa, and then we all passed out for the night.
We were woken up bright and early the next morning by a knock on our door. Alexa and Alyssa did not change their clocks when they arrived in London after going to Amsterdam, and they were an hour ahead. So, unfortunately for them, they had to hang around for a while and wait for us to get ready to go. We went out for a delicoius breakfast at a little organic tea shop down the road from our hotel. I got superb oatmeal with fresh sliced fruits like kiwi, peaches, pears, etc.
We then went out sightseeing for the day. We saw EVERYTHING. We started at Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the gaurds. After that we found the Original Bus Tour of London, and bought tickets since we love the bus tours. We saw all the sights London has to offer- from Parliament to the London Bridge. We even saw where the interior scenes of Gringotts Bank were filmed for Harry Potter! We saw Fleet Street where the legendary Sweeney Todd sliced and diced the customers at his barber shop.
We all were in the mood for a good scaring, so we got off and took a tour of the London Dungeons. These weren’t actually real dungeons- it was a sort of fun house where there were tons of actors in costumes who scare us as we walk through. It also gave us a history of the gruesome London past from Sweeney Todd to Jack the Ripper. There were also two scary rides inside. It took us a total of three hours to make it the whole way through! Totally worth it.
Also on our first day there, Caroline, Alexa and I got hair cut. We thought London would be the ideal place to do this since they speak English so we wouldn’t risk ending up looking like Mr. Clean or Boy George or something because of a language barrier. I actually ended up getting a pretty drastic hair cut of short, choppy layers. The hair dresser didn’t like how thick my hair was so she thinned it out a lot and I really like it.
That night was St. Patrick’s Day. We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Piccadilly Circus and I got my beloved Tacos for dinner. I did not speak for ten minutes while I INHALED the tacos and licked the sour cream dish clean. God I miss Mexican food. After that we wandered around looking for an Irish Pub. All the ones we had wanted to go to had lines out the door, so we ended up squeezing into a little tiny pub in some obscure place. We all got ciders after a lot of stress and waiting, and ended up leaving after just one drink. The place was over-crowded and rather boring. We had seen some great Pubs closer to our hotel and decided to head back and try those only to find that they were all closed!
So, we went to bed.
Perhaps the most disappointing St. Patty’s day I will ever encounter.
It worked out fine anyway because we woke up the next morning feeling refreshed, not hung over, and ready for another day of sightseeing in London.
We toured the Victoria and Albert Museum which was really cool. The last major thing we did in London was shopping at Herod’s, where we saw Kim Cattrall from Sex in the City. We finished off the night with a tasty dinner, and then headed off to bed early since the night life in London was disappointing. Plus we had to wake up early the next morning for Paris, the city of Love.
Overall, I ended up falling head over heals in love with London. It is somewhere I had been talking about visiting for as long as I can remember, and it did not disappoint. I will certainly be returning there sometime in the near future.
To be continued.,.,.,.,.,.