Where to begin? It was an absolutely amazing trip - lots of fun!! We saw SO much and did SO much in the short amount of time that we had - it was a blast!! I met some really cool people and enjoyed spending time with Krissie and her friends!! Good times and lots of memories!
Day 1: Met Krissie at Victoria Station, London approx. 4:15 pm. We made our way to Luton Airport. After riding the tube, a train, a bus and eventually a plane, we arrive at Paris' CDG airport. Then we made our way to the Hotel Mayet. A train ride and two metro transfers later we check in, eat some cheese and crackers and fall fast asleep.
It was exciting and a little weird to see Krissie standing at Victoria (like it was normal for her to be in London or something). Somehow, the reality of our trip still had not hit me. We caught up on gossip and swapped stories, just like old times.
Day 2: Paris: We woke up and made an attempt to use the funky French shower (it was a tub with a hand-held piece, no curtain). We ate breakfast and met Emily and Nico in the hotel lobby. Nico drove us to Sacre-Coeur for the start of Emily's wonderful tour. Here was our day in Paris:
- Sacre-Coeur: We climbed to the top of the tower and could see the whole city - such a beautiful sight!!
- Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame: Very cool buildings! The figurines carved into both buildings were very detailed and very beautiful! Don't know why I was obsessed with Notre Dame, but I took a ton of pictures of it.
- Lunch: Take away sandwiches on good French bread - Mmmm!!
- The Louvre: We walked through the courtyard (not enough time in the day to see the inside) - such a huge and amazing building!!
- Jardin de Tuleries: Winter and a little rainy, but I can see why it is such a neat place.
- Angleina's: Famous for hot chocolate, we enjoyed the specialty and dessert - Mmm!!
- Champs Elysees: We walked along the well-known street and even did a bit of shopping (or at least tried to).
- L'Arc de Triomphe: We climbed more stairs to see the city!! I never knew you could do that!
- Eiffel Tower: Bad weather kept us from going to the very top, but we saw plenty from the second level.
- Bataux- Mouche: A river cruise along the Seine - very cool!!
- Dinner: St. Germain area for dinner at La Boussole and drinks later.
A very cool day! It was great to meet Emily and to spend the day with her in Paris! Hard to choose a favorite sight, but I loved looking down on the city from at least three different places. The restaurant where we ate dinner was spectacular! I have found myself dreaming of the salmon with coconut sauce... Guess I will have to find my way back to Paris soon.
Day 3: Nico and Emily drove us to the airport for the second leg of our trip. I can't say this was the BEST travel day, but we made it and that's all that matters. First, the airport had only one line to check in for the flight to Barcelona (while other destinations had at least two lines) which meant that the line itself was rather long. Passengers started to get anxious about making the flight, so there were a lot of angry/stressed-out people in line... Never a good thing. Then, when we finally checked-in and hurried to the gate expecting to board the plane immediately, it hadn't even landed yet! The company probably could have saved quite a few customers from stressing -out if they had only informed us while we were waiting. We made it to Barcelona without a problem and caught the train to Estacio Sants where we were expecting to catch a train to Alicante. Unfortunately, there were no seats on any train to Alicante... Uh Oh!! The guy told us we could either take a bus or catch the 7am train the next morning... We opted for the bus and arrived in Alicante at 2:20am.
I am sorry for that, K. I really did try to book tickets in advance, but the website wouldn't let me and I NEVER expected the trains to be full!! It was a long ride from Barcelona, but was cool to see the Spainish coast (well, at least until the sun went down). The bus was a new, fancy one that had a toilet on it (you actually stepped down to get to it). We even watched a movie - too bad neither of us know Spanish... Caroline and Lee met us at the bus station at 2:20am and took us to their house in La Marina. We drank champagne and ate strawberries and didn't go to bed until 5 o'clock.
Day 4: La Marina, Spain We woke up around noon and got ready for the day. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to leave the house, it was time for siesta, so we went to the beach and enjoyed a picnic along the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful day, a little chilly, but lovely and bright. I was thrilled to be able to wear sunglasses. About 4:00 we headed into Torrevieja. Siesta is a new concept for me - the idea that people take a break in the middle of the day to go home and spend time with their family is cool. They slowly make their way back to work sometime between 4 and 4:30ish to open shop and continue with the rest of the day. It was very odd to walk around the town of Torrevieja and see the shops closed in the middle of the afternoon... Just a very different way of life. We left and headed back to La Marina for dinner. We had a few drinks at two of the local bars, then enjoyed a huge Chinese feast. It was great. I think we were all a little drunk by the end of the evening, I know I was! We walked home and sat on the roof-top terrace for a little while before heading for bed.
Caroline and Lee were great fun! I have loads of admiration for them to leave Wales and move to Spain where the life and the language is completely different. I really liked the Costa Blanca region. There is such a completely different way of life in Spain, so mellow and relaxed. It would take a while to get used to life there, but I think it could be a lot of fun.
Day 5: We woke early so that we could attend the San Fulgencia Market, hopped in the car and drove to the town only to find that the market was not quite what was advertised. It only had about 8 stalls, mainly fresh fruit and veg. We decided to drive to Elche, the shoe capital of Spain. We wandered around the town looking for shoe shops but had no luck. We found a really cool bridge and snapped tons of pictures. We ate lunch at a cute little Spanish restaurant. We left Elche to find orange and lemon groves and snapped more pictures. We spent loads of time in the car, seeing a lot of the area. It was really cool to see the salt lakes and citrus groves - such a beautiful area!! Then it was back to the house for dinner and then off to the Alicante airport. We were in the immigration line at Gatwick with some really shady characters. Caught the shuttle to the hotel and crashed by approx. 1am.
Elche was really cool. It is a good-sized city and you could get a good feel for Spanish life. Compared to Torrevieja, where tourists frequent the area, Elche did not speak much English. So it was especially nice to experience. Driving through the area with Caroline and Lee was nice. We have some fun pictures where we stopped to photograph ourselves with the San Miguel sign. I can see why they are such a special couple for Krissie, they are just really great people!! Lee bought Krissie and I stickers and magnets and even a box of Sangria!! Caroline insisted that I take a juice-box sized wine home with me as well!
Day 6: London, England We caught the 8:15 shuttle to Gatwick. Big hugs before Krissie went through security to find her gate and I caught the Gatwich Express to Victoria, then the Green line to Embarkment, walked to Charing Cross and finally caught the 10:02 train back home.
I had a blast K! Thanks for coming!!
