So here’s the continuation to Part 1.
After spending 4 days in Stratford, we returned to London. The trip took almost 3 hours by coach including a stop at Stonehenge. It was freezing cold that day (what with the open field and wind) so I didn’t feel like taking lots of photographs.
At Stonehenge
My sister's friend and I
Upon our arrival in London, all of us thought we would be staying in an apartment at Inverness Terrace. So the bus dropped all of us there and drove off. Turns out this designated place was a few blocks away from Inverness Terrace (it was at Leinster Gardens) so we ended up lugging our (heavy) bags all the way to this other place. It wasn’t fun, I could tell you that, but nevertheless it was something memorable. The group occupied the entire apartment (mine was on the third floor).
Our apartment at Leinster Gardens
At 6AM, on the next day, we left the apartment and headed off to St. Pancras Station for the train to Paris. One incident none of us would forget was, one of the girls in our group who was under my personal care, left her passport in the apartment. She and I had to run back to the apartment to retrieve it while the rest of the group fumed. Luckily we managed to get back to the station on time.
The journey took 3 hours and it was raining when we got to Paris. Okay, the thing about Paris is, it didn’t live up to whatever expectations I had for it but maybe because it was winter time and it was raining so I couldn’t see the full glory of the city. Nevertheless, it was still a huge and busy metropolis. One thing to remember though, all tourists have to be careful when going about the Metro lines (Paris‘ rapid transit metro system) and around Champs-Élysées because pickpockets are everywhere. My room-mate fell victim to one. We stayed at Ibis Hotel at La Defense. La Defense is a major business district in Paris so all we see were skyscrapers everywhere. We also visited the Christmas market in Champs-Élysées.
Christmas market at Champs-Élysées
The Eiffel Tower
Me at the Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe
I also didn’t quite enjoy myself at the Disneyland in Paris. I had trouble keeping myself warm despite wearing 5 layers of clothing underneath my jacket and there were too many people smoking. In the end I only took a train ride and spent the rest of the time at a McDonald’s outlet in the Disneyland sipping my hot drink and reading my book.
Paris Disneyland
On the third and last day in Paris, the group went shopping but I only got myself a couple of keyrings and a shirt. :/
To be continued next time.
EDIT//
Happy belated Christmas. I’ve completely forgotten about it because: 1) I don’t celebrate it and, 2) nothing spectacular happened on the day. Nevertheless, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish everyone happy new year.
