I See London, I See France

I'm sorry that it has been so long since I've updated the blog. There has been alot going on in the Dyksterhouse lately, but more to come on all of that later. I still haven't finished posting about what went on with us in May.

Kathryn went as a chaperone on Susanne's Senior trip to Europe. I am going to talk about this in one post because the trip was such a whirlwind, it seems like it all could have happened in just one long day. However, be warned that it is a very length post. If you just want to scroll through and look at the pictures, I completely understand. A few days after Susanne's graduation, we left for London. I actually really loved London - it was probably my favorite city that we visited. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was sunny and gorgeous the entire time that we were there. Our tour guide, Kat, was with us for the entire 10-day trip. She is a Londoner, so she had alot of insight into this city. Some highlights from London were the Thames River, Trafalgar's Square, Covent Garden, Westminster Abby, Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, and the play Wicked. Most of this was seen in a blur from a bus, but we saw it nonetheless.

With all of these famous sites and glimpses of great history, my favorite adventure in London (and probably of the entire vacation) was actually a side-trip that was unplanned. Susanne was suffering from jet-lag and so Mom and I took her back to the hotel to get some much needed rest. While she was sleeping, we decided to go out and grab a bite to eat. While trying to find a good restaurant, we found out that St. Helen's Bishopsgate, a reformed church in the heart of London, was offering one of their mid-week lunchtime talks. It was such a great experience to sit in on a lecture by a great preacher (William Taylor) and to worship God with people from a different country. They were so friendly and the talk was very inspiring and gospel-centered. It was actually very relevant at this particular point. William talked about the spirit of God living in us and not only in the church. With all of the beautiful churches and architecture throughout Europe, people tend to worship the church and not the Creator. He said that his beautiful 13th century church is no more than a shelter from the rain. There is a sign in St. Helen's that reads "You are now entering the House of God". Sometimes it can be read as you are entering the church, but just as often they move it so that it is read as you are exiting the church. It was a great perspective as there were many beautiful "rain shelters" that we would be visiting over the next 8 days. Oh, and I can't forget to mention that we ate lunch at the restaurant next door before the talk began. It was great! Mom had fish and chips, and I had Shepherd's Pie. Perhaps the best meal of the entire vacation as well (our other meals, planned by the tour group, were very spicy Indian Food and soy burgers - yuck!)

On Wednesday morning, we boarded the Eurostar train for a 2.5 hour train ride to Paris. This train was very smooth and the trip went by very quickly. We arrived in Paris very rested and ready to begin our explorations. We began with an explanation of how the Parisian metro system operates, and then a train ride to Notre Dame. Again, we only had a few minutes, and we were starving at this point, so we went quickly through the cathedral, and then found a cafe where we had sandwiches and crepes. Very expensive (as was everything on the trip), but well worth it. After this, we left to go to the restaurant for dinner. They served us something (I don't remember the name of it) that was a pizza/pancake. Very interesting. After dinner, we went to Montmartre, a hill in north Paris where artists gather to entertain and tourists visit the "Basillica of the Sacred Heart".

The following morning, we went on a bus tour. This was, again, a whirlwind and it is very difficult to remember everything that we saw. It was a basic overview of Paris. After the bus tour, we drove about an hour to Versailles. The palace was amazing, the I definitely enjoyed the gardens more than anything else. After an afternoon in Versailles, it was back to Paris for dinner and then the Eiffel Tower, a boat ride down the Seine, and a night bus tour of Paris to see why they call it the "City of Lights".

On our last day in Paris, we went on a walking tour to see some of the fashion district. Then we went to the Louvre. We only had a couple of hours to spend in the Louvre and to eat lunch, so again, the time flew by and we didn't get to see very much. I did get to see the Mona Lisa, which was so much smaller than I had pictured. I never took art history in college, so I have yet to see the big deal about that one. There was a little excitement when we lost a couple of our group members. Since we were catching an overnight train to Florence in just a few short hours, we did panic a little. Thankfully, the two missing women were chaperones and were able to make it to the hotel to meet us before we left. We were very relieved to find them there.

After such a pleasant train ride from London to Paris, I was actually looking forward to the overnight train. I had visions of being lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the car. Little did I know what lay ahead of me. Six of us slept in one "room", but it could more accurately be called a closet. The two rows of chairs folded into 6 bunk beds - two sets stacked three high. OK, not ideal, but it could be cozy. Wrong! I took a middle bunk (the empty one in the picture is mine). The two on the top and the two on the bottom actually slept very peacefully. Stephanie and I (in the middle), however, did not!! There were two main problems. First, in order to feel the air in the small, congested car, we had to leave the window shade up. This didn't really affect any of the others, but anytime that we made one of our many stops, Stephanie and I would wake up to people staring right in at us. Didn't exactly give me warm, fuzzy feelings. Secondly, there was a large, hard bar running right across the spot in the bed that hit my back. I tried moving up and moving down, but couldn't seem to escape from that bar. Everytime the train "gently rocked", I was sent into the bar. On top of this awful trip, we couldn't check into our hotel in Florence until the following evening, so I walked the streets of Florence tired and with a terrible headache. I was so happy to crawl into bed that night! (OK, the ranting will now end, I promise.)

Florence and Rome were perhaps the most rushed cities that we visited. In Florence, we went on a tour of a leather factory, and then went on a walking tour of the city. That afternoon, we went by bus to Pisa. It was very fun to get to see the leaning tower in person. We all admired from a distance, though, too afraid that it would come tumbling down if we walked any nearer than we did. And, DK, you would be so proud - no one got lost here! (Although I can imagine how it could happen).

That night we had a delicious dinner - I'm convinced that there is no bad food in Italy. Then we took the graduates to the disco for a night of dancing. They had a great time, and it was fun to see them enjoying themselves so much.

The final leg of the trip was a side-venture to Assisi, and then onto Rome. While in Rome, we saw the Forum, the Colosseum, St. Peter's and the Vatican museums. After a full day, we went to bed early in anticipation of a long day traveling home.

It was a great trip, but I definitely prefer visiting fewer places and staying in those places for longer amounts of time. We took in alot of sites in a short amount of time and were very tired when we made it home. But, I now have a good idea of places that I would like to go if I ever make it back to Europe.