Thank goodness for boyfriends with Danish friends who decide to get married in Denmark because that's what got this lady over to Europe! We later met in London with our boys for a few days and then the girls ran off to Paris. oui oui! hey hey hey! (Try saying it as though you're Yogi the bear. That helped our French accents.)
Many themes developed throughout this trip:
First, selfies. This is what happens when you travel in pairs. And for the wiser generation reading this, selfies are the kinds of pictures you take of yourselves by turning the camera around and stretching out your arm as far as possible. (Tip: if one person's head is noticeably larger than the other, they should take a step back.) Sadly, most of these were stolen along with Megan's phone on the very last day of her trip. So sad.
Different variations of the following conversation make up theme number two. One of us would say, "I wonder insert question about some old statue, building, religion, or royalty." The other would respond in one of two ways. Either with complete bull made up on the spot that would then be completely accepted by the other or, "I don't know. We should Google it."
Game of Thrones, yeah.
The greatest theme of all - friendship. There were several moments where I forgot we were in a foreign country because it just felt so normal to be hanging out and casually chatting about life.
So, what do you get when two, somewhat neurotic, type A personalities travel together? Jam packed days scheduled down to the minute, sore feet, pure exhaustion, 10pm dinners, and one heck of a trip! Love you, lady!
London:
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| The Tower of London |
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| London rain |
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| a really old pub |
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| For you, Mom! my blue, your rooster <3 |
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| Not Big Ben, because he's inside. |
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Tower Bridge
We were told on our boat tour of River Thames that an American oil tycoon purchased London Bridge for something like $2 million, thinking he got a good deal because he was picturing this bridge. --- I Googled it. False. The 1831 London Bridge was dismantled in 1967 when it was no longer sound enough to support the increased load of modern traffic. It was indeed purchased and moved to Arizona as a tourist attraction, but the guy knew what he was getting for his money. |
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Buckingham Palace
I knew the changing of the guards would be crowded, but oh my goodness. So crowded! |
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| Hands down, best abby I've ever seen. --- Name that show! |
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| tea time! |
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| This place was absurd. We touched a felt Ferrari parked on the street. Yes, felt. If you don't want people touching your fancy car, don't make it soft and fuzzy. |
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| I resisted buying any royal baby souvenirs. |
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| London lived up to all of my expectations. |
Paris:
This city is magical. It is a city that I could visit over and over, still getting the same tingly feelings as though it's the first time.
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| on Marie Antoinette's estate in Versailles |
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Leon, the peacock
How do we know his name? Well, there was a small field of all kinds of birds (gross) and a bird man came out to coral them all in for feeding time. This guy was all the way on the other side, so he starts yelling out something that sounded a lot like Leon. Therefore, it must be his name. Duh. |
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the only surviving selfie :(
We could only find birthday cups for our wine, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! |
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| It wasn't until the tower sparkled for the third time that we realized our picnic was going on three hours. Some charming Frenchmen tried to interrupt, but respectfully left us alone once we said that this was just girl time. Well, it excited them at first, until I explicitly explained what we meant by girl time... |
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| The Louvre really stepped up their game with a Nintendo DS audio guide. |
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Oslo:
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| This is how we say goodbye after 9 days of c&m time! |
