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Okay! Where to begin? I really didn't mean to leave it so long without updating in here, and there's been quite a bit going on, so I think I will separate it into different sections!
My new nephew
My brother and his wife had a baby boy on July 1, Canada Day! They named him Alex Lee. It's a lovely name, but I must admit to being a bit upset that they chose it, since I have ALWAYS wanted to name my son Alexei, and recently loved the idea of shortening it to Lex. And now I can't! :-( It's not fair.
That said, he looks very cute. :-) I won't be able to see him for quite a while, probably not until next spring or summer even. But my brother's put up a blog, so I'll be able to keep updated with pictures and such. Here are a few of my favourites so far:
Milan
Aside from some trouble finding the hotel when I arrived at 1 a.m. (it wasn't marked at all!), the trip to Milan went very smoothly. After my late night arrival on Friday, I got up fairly early on Saturday and went first to the Duomo, the huge and gorgeous cathedral in the centre of the city. I did the audio
guide tour of the interior, and then climbed the steps up to the roof for an amazing view of the city. They let people walk around all over on the roof, which just goes to show that it's pretty solidly constructed!
I had hoped to see a show at La Scala, but there no performances on a Saturday (for some reason!), so I just went to the museum there instead. Luckily it included a chance to peek into the auditorium itself, which was amazing! I had a pizza lunch, just 'cause I had to, and then headed over to the Castle Salfora, where there
were more museums. I finished the sightseeing with a stop at the Brera gallery to take in some Italian art. I spent some time just hanging out in the lovely sun in one of the city parks before heading back to the hotel for a panini dinner and a quiet night, before catching the morning flight back.
All in all, a pretty whirlwind trip, but definitely worth it! Of course there is still much more of Italy I want to see, but it was a start!
Paris
My mom and sister arrived on the 27th of June, about 5 hours late! They were pretty wiped out from the flight, so we had a low key day of resting and doing a little bit of walking around downtown, from Parliament through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and my work. On the Thursday, we spent the day at Hampton
Court, which was a lot of fun! We did two of the guided tours, 3 of the audio tours, and the gardens, so we were there most of the day. Afterwards, we headed back into the city and went to Brick Lane, where we had good Indian food in a restaurant there.
Friday we left for Paris! We waited too long to book tickets, and so couldn't take the Eurostar as it was far too expensive. So we decided to take the bus over, and fly back. The bus ride was about 7 hours long, and went through the chunnel on a train, which was quite interesting. Unfortunately it poured for most of the trip, so there wasn't much sightseeing to be
had. Luckily by the time we arrived in Paris it had pretty much petered out, and we made our way to the hotel without getting soaked. We went first to the Eiffel Tower, which was our first experience with the terrible crowds in the city all weekend. We went all the way to the top, despite the wait, and got some great views of the city. When we made it down, we went
for dinner at a cafe just down the street, and then called it a night.
On Saturday we went first to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, which Aubrey and I climbed while Mom chickened out and waited at the bottom. We wandered from there back down the street, where Mom insisted on stopping for coffee so she could say she had a drink on the Champs Elysees - 30 Euro later, we had our drink!
We caught the RER out to Versailles, where the lines were unbelievable, and it took us over an hour and a half to even get in the palace. We got the audio guides, which I didn't have the last time I was there, but I didn't find them that helpful this time around. After looking around inside, we paid the extra fee to visit the gardens, and then the fountains turned off
15 minutes after we got in! Grrrrr! Still, we wandered the gardens a bit and had a quick bite to eat there before going back to the city.
We got off at the Musee d'Orsay and walked through the Tuileries back up the river to take the nighttime cruise along the Seine. This was the third time I've done it, but the first time on Bateaux Mouche, the most well-known company, and I definitely wouldn't go with them again. Too crowded and the commentary was not very good.
Sunday we went to Mass at Notre Dame and looked around there a bit. Aubrey and I had wanted to climb the towers, but the lineup was long and was moving very slowly, so we decided to pass. We went instead to Sainte-Chapelle, my favourite church that I've been to, and looked around in there a bit. After lunch in the Chatelet square, we walked back up to the river to the Louvre, which
was free that day and ... you guessed it ... very crowded. Still, we saw quite a bit in there, including the Mona Lisa, naturally. They've moved it since the last time I was there, and I don't know if it flows as well.
So overall the weekend was good, even if the crowds were bothering us, but we still had to get home, which ended up being an unwanted adventure. Our flight was delayed nearly two hours, so we knew we'd be cutting it close to catch the tube from Heathrow before it shut down for the night. What we didn't know was that some idiot had driven a car into the Glasgow airport that weekend, and that
Heathrow was under a sort of mini-lockdown. So by the time we arrived, not only was the tube closed (before it should have been), but buses and taxis weren't being allowed up to the terminal either. So at midnight, we had to hike across the highway to the Hilton, and take a cab back into the city, which set us back $140! Not good.
Pictures of Paris are below:
Mom and Aubrey at the Eiffel Tower
Aubrey at the Arc de Triomphe
Me and Aubrey hanging out by the Seine
The Eiffel Tower from our night cruise
Me and Mom on the cruise (note my sunburn!)
Mom at Notre Dame
Palma
The week in between our weekends away was also busy! I was back at work, but Mom and Aubrey kept busy with visiting the National Gallery, the London Eye,
the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and doing one of the Big Bus tours. In the evenings, we saw Blood Brothers and Wicked, both of which were very enjoyable. I hadn't seen Blood Brothers in about five years, and really enjoyed it this time around.
On the Friday, we caught our flight to Palma de Majorca! This was by far the furthest south I've been in Europe, and was an absolutely lovely place to visit. We adored the old city, with its narrow streets, hidden squares and shops. We just walked around the night we arrived, and had a dinner of paella down by the seafront.
The main reason to go to Palma was the beach, and so on Saturday we hit our first one! We spent about 6 hours there, and I managed to get quite thoroughly burnt, mostly the result of spending a lot of time in the water, I think. It was sooo salty and buoyant, I just floated in the waves. When we tired of the sun, we went back into Palma and went to Mass at the gorgeous cathedral there before having a disappointing dinner in the Placa Major.
Sunday we headed out of Palma and took a wooden train up through the mountains to the north coast of the island, to the town of Port de Soller. There we laid on another beach for the day, where it was even hotter. This one was on a bay, so the water was a lot calmer and soooo clear! You could see forever in it. We had a nice dinner on the seafront there, and then headed back to Palma to catch our flight back.
Of course, continuing Aubrey's streak of delayed flights, we were late getting back and missed our pre-paid bus back to the city. We had to buy tickets with a different company instead, and walk for about 20 minutes after we got off the bus to get home, which we finally did around 3 a.m.
Again, it was a real pain, but didn't take away from the general wonderfulness of the weekend. Some pictures from Palma:
The cathedral in Palma
The first beach we hung out at
Mom and Aubrey on the tram at Port de Soller
Aubrey and I at the restaurant on the shore
The rest
Since we got back, Mom and Aubrey spent a day at the Tower of London and another at Leeds Castle, and Aubrey did some shopping on Oxford Street. In the evenings, we did the Jack the Ripper walk and went to see a production of Little Shop of Horrors. This morning, I got up early to take Aubrey to the airport, as her trip is now over. Mom is still here for another 6 weeks though!
Whew, this is getting long...there's more to tell in relation to my apartment and such, but I'm going to have to leave that for another time. Hopefully much quicker than last time.
Hope you're all enjoying your summer!!
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