EuroTrip Adventure Recap - Days 5 and 6

Welcome back!

Day 5 - Free Day in London

With this being a free day, we decided to go see some things that weren't on the planned agenda. We woke up and had breakfast, and then joined Kristy, Michael, and John P for a trip to Windsor Castle.
First thing we did was get to Paddington Train Station. Anyone remember Paddington Bear from when we were kids? This is where he's from.
We took a train to Slough, where we changed trains to Windsor. The whole process was easy and efficient. The change at Slough was kind of cool because, as we waited for the train to Windsor, a high-speed train back to Paddington came through at about 100mph. Very cool stuff.

Brief sidenote before I begin. Apparently, the Queen had been staying in the castle the night before we visited and had left to head to Dublin just about an hour before we arrived. So close. Now, Windsor is a very quaint, almost stereotypical "Old English" town. Narrow streets, old construction, cobblestone streets. Awesome. The castle was about a 5 minute walk from the station, and boy was it big. We bought tickets, but just as we were going to enter the grounds, a fire alarm went off in the castle. We had to wait about 10 minutes, but other than that everything was cool.
Everything we looked at was just...."WOW!" The gardens, the castle, the cathedral, everything. And we hadn't even gone inside yet.

We walked through a few buildings, and found our way to this courtyard. It was here we saw a changing of the guard. I have the misfortune of having selective hearing, and didn't hear three guards marching up behind me. By the time I heard them, they were basically on top of me. This wouldn't have been an issue had they not had M16's with bayonet's on the ends. I was scared stiff.


We then went into the Queen's dollhouse. This dollhouse wasn't meant to be played with, but rather it was meant as an exhibition of everything that was luxurious at the time. The house was absolutely ridiculous - extremely intricate. No photography was allowed, but you're going to have to trust me on this one - the dollhouse was awesome.

Next, we went into the State Apartments. These are incredible. All of the rooms in the castle are still used today - the dining room, which seated probably 50-60 people, was said to be used in the rehearsal dinner for Prince William and Kate's wedding. Michael and I made the comment that growing up in the castle would have been awesome for many reasons, but one in particular - one could play hide and seek for hours and not be found. It was that big.

Following the interior of the castle (at least the parts you could actually walk through, since there were two entire wings that were not accessible), we headed to the Cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful, but not unlike anything else we would see on the trip. The only cool thing we got to see here was an organ recital. It was very unique to hear an organ in a real cathedral. Something I won't forget. As we walked through the cathedral, we saw the tombs of many Kings and Queens. English history was everywhere in this place.

After the cathedral, we decided to get a picture with one of the guards. I give the guard credit...he did his job - not moving an inch while multiple groups took pictures...and I even saw him checking out a few ladies. My man. Unfortunately, I do not have this picture, but it was good.

After leaving the castle grounds, we got some food at a place called EAT. This was a pretty cool place. Their business model was, admittedly, very good. They had pre-made sandwiches and soups and offered everything from salads to desserts. Just pick what you want pay, and eat at the outside seating. I enjoyed it, but we agreed something like that wouldn't work in America for a few reasons.

We then travelled back to London and headed to the St. Paul's Cathedral. We were aiming to climb to the top of the tower, but it was closed for a large function. Bad luck. We decided to go to the English museum. This was a history museum with a lot of great artifacts. We saw the Rosetta Stone, a number of mummies, and an Easter Island statue.



The night was capped off with a trip to a pub called the Black Lion for dinner and drinks. We sat outside and enjoyed the nice English drizzle that accompanied the night.


Day 6 - Journey to Paris

On this day, we would be travelling to Paris. The whole AESU crew had woken up at about 5am and taken a bus to Dover, where they would take a ferry to France, and then Bus to Paris. My parents, Shannon, and I, however, had arranged to travel by train through the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) and go straight into Paris. So, we got to sleep in. We taxi'd over to St. Pancras station and looked some lunch and get on the train. We had to get rid of many of the English Pound coins we had, since coins cannot be converted back. This turned out to be a tough task, and I ended up purchasing a pre-made Whiskey & Ginger Ale and a Piña Colada. They turned out to be pretty decent, definitely worth my last English Pounds.

The train we took, the Eurostar, was awesome. It went as fast as 185mph. The only downside of this was the fact that there were so many little tunnels in England. Since it was travelling so fast, it created a vacuum in the tunnels, and ears were popping left and right. It was as if we were taking off and landing every 5 seconds, but the intensity was greater. Not too much fun. Surprisingly, we didn't notice any effect while we were in the Chunnel.The train got us there in under two hours. Even with us leaving many hours after the AESU bunch, we got to Paris before they did. Not a bad move.

We then had to catch a taxi to our hotel. This gave me the opportunity to use my first French in almost 5 years. I think I did a pretty good job, as the driver, I believe, understood most of what I said. We were, by about an hour, the first people to the hotel. This game us some time to chill before the group arrived.

Once the group arrived, we made plans to walk to our organized Parisian dinner. The restaurant was about a 5 minute walk away. Very convenient. The meal consisted of quiche, salad, Beef Bourgignon with mashed potatoes, wine, and creme brulée. It would turn out to be one of the best meals we had on the trip. Everything was awesome.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and were bussed to a boat ride on the River Loire. We were told to buy some wine beforehand to enjoy on the boat, so we quickly did that. When we arrived at the dock, there were a lot of people waiting for the boat. We mentioned to Kathi that we should wait for the next boat, as we would be able to sit up on the top level as opposed to down below. We waited about a half hour for the next both, but that move turned out to be incredibly worth it.

The city is breathtaking. As it was getting dark, we got to see the Eiffel Tower (or Tour Eiffel for those French speakers) lit up and blinking. You've no doubt seen it in videos or on tv before, but I promise you there is nothing like seeing it in person. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was lit up, as well. Basically everything we saw was, in some way, cool. Even the guy "emptying" on the river bank. Comical.

After the boat ride, we took the Metro back to the hotel. The Metro in Paris was not as nice as the Metro in London, but it was still efficient. The goal of the night was to go out to a bar. When we arrived back at the hotel, we were told that it was too late and that all the bars were closed. Michael, Kristy, Shannon, and I decided to go find something to eat. As we walked down the street our hotel was on, we found a little "hole-in-the-wall" bar called Bloody Mary. They looked open, so we walked in. We found that the owner/bartender spoke very goof English, so we got a couple drinks, sat down and shot the breeze with him. We were apparently the only people from the group that managed to find a bar that night. Solid work.

Up next...Paris and Versailles...two of my favorite days on the trip.

As always, thanks for reading, and leave any questions/comments if you got 'em.

EuroTrip Adventure Recap - Day 4

Welcome back!

We woke on day 4 preparing for a London city tour. Breakfast was, again, typical European fare - bread, bread, meat, and more bread. No beer this time, or for the rest of the trip, unfortunately.

After breakfast, we had a brief walk to Hyde Park where we met our tourguide, Simon. Simon first walked us through Hyde Park, which was massive. While walking through, we saw Kensington Palace, one of the royal residences. Even from afar, it was massive. As we walked further, we encountered a Princess Diana memorial park and some of the royal guards on horseback, which we would see more of later. Exiting the park, we walked through Hyde Park Corner, one of the busiest roundabouts in the UK. Pretty cool, but nothing you couldn't see elsewhere.

Following the park, we took a short walk to Buckingham Palace.One of the reasons we had gone to Buckingham that day was to see the Changing of the Guard. Well, luck was not with us on this day. The Queen was making her first trip to Ireland the next day, and an Irish radical group had sent in a bomb threat around the Palace. We were unaware of this as we were around the Palace, but found out later that night. Tough luck. Precautions were being taken everywhere. The Changing was cancelled and the Mall, which was a big street leading to Buckingham, was shut down completely.

Following Buckingham, we visited more parks, gardens, and ponds. The flora and fauna was, admittedly, very cool.





























We then went to Downing Street, which is the UK equivalent of Capitol Hill, and saw the Admiralty and other military and governmental buildings. There was a large courtyard that was being prepped for Queen Elizabeth II's birthday, which was about 3 weeks after we visited.
Following Downing street, it was a short walk over to Westminster Abbey.We didn't get to go in, but just seeing it from the outside was an awesome experience.

Next came Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. We, again, didn't go in, but photo opportunities abound!


Following that brief stop, we took the Tube over to the Tower of London. The Tower of London isn't a tower at all. Rather, it is a large fort that served as the nerve center of London back in the 1400's. Public executions were held nearby, there is a church and school inside (the church is still operational and houses the tombs of some royalty) as well as a museum housing many historical English artifacts. Serving as guardians and tourguides of the Tower were military called Yeoman Warders. The outfits they wear are pretty outrageous, but their service is not. In order to become a Tower guard, a Yeoman Warder must have served at least 30 years in the Royal Military. The Warders and their families live within the walls of the Tower, and know everything about the Tower, even down to the names of the resident Ravens.
The main artifact in the Tower is the Royal Crown Jewels. Crowns dating back to the 14th century are contained in the museum. Unfortunately, the Warders were hawking the room containing the jewels real well so I wasn't able to take any photos of the crowns. I did, however, manage to snap this "illegal" picture of royal maces:

Immediately outside the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge. This, contrary to popular belief, is NOT the London Bridge. It is, however, more famous than the London Bridge. We got lucky here, though, as the Tower Bridge opens an average of once every three days. Well, it opened while we were there. The little things...

After the Towers, we headed to lunch. Following lunch, we walked across the Tower Bridge and explored the area. We then took the Tube home and took a nap to prepare for the night's activities.
That evening, we went to a club called the Picadilly Institute. It was very nice and we all had a fun time. It was a great way to cap off a great day.

With the fact that this was such a packed day, I'm going to leave the following, and last day in London, for another post. To cap it all off, here are some miscellaneous pictures from the day. Again, please feel free to leave any questions or comments.

EuroTrip Adventure Recap - Days 1, 2, and 3

Welcome back to the Datsyuk and Friends blog! After an extremely lengthy absence, I am returning to broadcast the escapades of my monthlong European journey.

A little background about the trip before I begin. The trip was presented to me by my parents as a graduation gift. The trip was led by college alumni travel organization AESU. I have to say this trip was really fantastic simply due to its organized nature. Everything was planned down to the second, which was really nice given the length and breadth of the trip. I traveled with about 40 other graduates from Michigan State, the University of North Carolina, and Georgia Tech University, as well as my parents and my girlfriend, Shannon. I met so many great people on this trip and will have lifelong friends as a result. I couldn't have spent a month in a better way. Without further ado, here is the recap of my month in Europe!

Day 1 - Travel to London

Quick note: My family and I left for London a day early. This was for reasons I will discuss on Day 3. As for Day 1, there isn't a whole lot to say about this day, other than it was kind of boring. We arrived at the airport at about 4:30pm for a 6:15pm flight. One thing I've wanted to do for a long time is take a flight on a Boeing 747, formerly the largest plane in the skies. Unfortunately, this flight was not on a 747. I was a bit sad. Hopefully soon I'll do that. As for the flight itself, it was long for one reason: I cannot sleep on planes. Rather, I cannot sleep in the sitting position. I did get a lot of sleep the night before to compensate for this, though. I ended up watching a couple movies and playing the in-flight trivia game to keep myself occupied, but once everyone fell asleep, I was pretty much bored out of my mind. Sleeping pills would have come in handy. Roughly 7 hours after we departed Detroit...

Day 2 - Marathon Day in London

...We landed at London's Heathrow airport. We landed and immediately went through customs inspections. The gentleman who checked me was very nice and seemed genuinely excited for me to "meet up with my mates and party." The lady who checked Shannon in to the country, on the other hand, was on a severe power trip, and we think she was hard of hearing. Just because the word "college" is said does not mean we're on Study Abroad. Sorry lady. Anyway....we got through customs and headed to our hotel. After discussing a couple methods of getting there, we settled on taking London's subway system, commonly known as the Tube.

For me, the Tube was very easy to navigate - I love public transport, specifically subways. We found our way to our proper stop, having gone through suburbs and small villages along the way. When we got out at our stop, we discovered that there were two hotels with very similar names in very close proximity to one another. We asked for directions to ours, the Lancaster Gate Hotel, and a kind lady gave us directions to the wrong hotel, the Lancaster Hotel. Oh well, it was about a 5 minute walk to the correct hotel. This would end up being about the shortest walk we would make for the rest of the trip.

We then sought some breakfast. We found a pub down the street and went in to eat. Some of us, namely myself, were not breakfast people and were looking for lunch. Unfortunately, lunch was not served for another hour and a half, so I settled for the typical European breakfast of toast, sausage, and beer.
Having eaten, we looked to take on the day. We first went to the shopping district to search for Harrod's, the most famous department store in London.

Harrod's is an absolute maze. Anything you could possibly want, you could find at Harrod's. They had a Princess Diana memorial, as well as replica Egyptian relics, in the middle of the store. A full food market? Check. Furniture? Check. Sports? Check. It was unreal.

After Harrod's, we headed to the London Eye.
The trip around the Eye took about 30 minutes, and the view from the top was really breathtaking. You could see for miles. It was a really cool way to see the city, especially on a first day.

After the London Eye, we decided to head back to the hotel and get some dinner. We headed back to the same pub we ate at earlier in the day, and I acquainted myself with true English fish and chips. Needless to say, it was delicious. Although Shannon might tell you otherwise. We made an executive decision to get to bed early, as we had a big day planned the next day...

Day 3 - Arrival of AESU crew

Today was a big day for me. For those who don't know, I'm a huge Chelsea FC fan. Well, it just so happened that today was the final home game of the 2010-11 English Premier League season for Chelsea. I've always wanted to go to a European soccer game, and this was my chance. The process of getting tickets was laborious, but worth all the hassle. This was also the reason we left a day early (had we arrived on the normal day, today, we would not have been able to go).
The journey to the game was filled with twists and turns. Tube service on part of the line was cancelled for the weekend due to "planned engineering works," and then one line was delayed indefinitely for some reason I can't remember. The last leg of the way called for us to simply follow the crowd. We did so, and ended up walking through a cemetary.

This was a legit cemetary...huge, and some of the headstones read as old as 1831. Very cool, but kinda creepy at the same time.

We made our way to the stadium, called Stamford Bridge, and my search for a new jersey began. After visiting a couple stands, we ended up at the Chelsea Megastore....and boy, was it Mega. Everything you could possibly imagine or want in Chelsea colors or livery could be found. For my jersey, I ended up flipping a coin between two players: Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou. The result?Didier Drogba. Looking back on it, and considering the fact that he may not return to the team next year, the coin may have done me a disservice. Oh well.

A couple interesting notes from the game itself. Alcohol is served only before the game and during halftime...no sales during play. There is also no alcohol allowed in the stands, which means no vendors walking the aisles. Really a refreshing concept. I was really hoping for a Chelsea victory considering they were playing a middle-of-the-road team, but it was not to be. Newcastle United scored a fluke goal early, with a free kick going off a defender and past a fooled Petr Cech. Chelsea would add two goals and took the 2-1 lead into stoppage time. Then, in the 3rd minute of 4-minute-stop-time, Newcastle scored off a corner. The stadium was deflated. Even though Chelsea did not pull it out, it was quite an experience. One that I won't soon forget.




Following the game, we made our way back to the hotel. We were a few minutes late for the introductory group meeting with our tour guide, Kathi. After the meeting, we took a quick nap and then met everyone for dinner and a pub crawl. The dinner was once again fish and chips, which I loved. Shannon declined the fish and got a pasta dish that was awesome too. Lucky girl. The dinner was where we met what would become our core group of friends for the trip: Michael, Kristy, Ellen, and Zhenya, all from UNC. After splitting a few Tequila Sunrise pitchers, we headed out to a random pub. At the Phoenix, Shannon sat down and was challenged by a local to a drinking contest - who could drink a pint through a straw the fastest? Shannon drew the short stick, as this guy was clearly a ringer, and finished the beer in about 5 seconds.....somehow. After that, I enjoyed the Barcelona soccer game that was on TV at the pub, and we ended up closing the bar. We went back to the hotel and got some rest, as we had a day of London exploration the next day.

I will be updating this every few days in the coming weeks. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions.

To Be Continued...