Favorite Trip: Paris, London and a Bench

Our trip to Paris and London was by far our favorite European trip to date! I was in love with Paris and James was in love with the language of London. For those of you that are a little slow…they speak English. We went in December (the off season) which I believe was a huge factor in us enjoying Paris but it seems as though there is no off season in London. There were still a million people to push through to get to Five Guys and Krispie Kreme.

We started out in Paris and I had (against James’ request) booked an apartment through Air Bnb. We got in late and after texting the owner were led upstairs to a tiny but immaculate studio! Even though the bed was a bunk it was exactly what we wanted. It had a little kitchen and even a washer that held two pairs of pants and the location was PERFECT.

Pull-out under the bunk.

Our first day we headed to Notre Dame for mass and it was absolutely beautiful. The stained glass, the architecture, the hymns, even James loved it. After mass and walking around the grounds, we headed to the Catacombs. We found the entrance and stood in the already long line. We paid and walked down a bunch of stairs and finally it opened up and we were standing among thousands of human remains. They were out of English pamphlets so we walked behind a couple that was getting a private tour. Thanks for paying for us guys! The explanation for catacombs (several other large cities have catacombs) is that the city’s cemeteries were too full so they were forced to dig up graves and replace them with newly deceased. The city officials decided to dig up all the bodies and put them in tunnels underground. Each graveyard/cemetery had a designated area to put “their” remains; this way families would still have a place to visit their departed loved ones. Some sections were eerily pretty and quite creative with the way they displayed the bones. We had a hard time taking pictures because the cameras kept fogging up due to the humidity in the tunnels. The Luxembourg Gardens were not far so we headed there where we enjoyed our first real crepe. Did you know they have sweet or savory crepes? We had a light breakfast so we opted for a savory ham and cheese one. We found some chairs by the pond and made ourselves true Parisians by sun bathing and munching on brunch. The crepe was delicious and the ambiance was perfect. After the gardens we just wandered. It was so much fun to window shop and we popped into just about every patisserie we passed. I also had a fascination with their grocery stores. I wanted to see what they eat! Speaking of eating, I couldn’t wait for that evening because I was dying to eat…Chipotle! OH MY. The baby sized burritos are even amazing in Paris.

Side view of Notre Dame

After mass at Notre Dame

Catacombs

Beautifully creepy...oxymoron? 

Luxembourg Gardens. I think James liked the Parisian way.

Crepe eating at the gardens.

Stopped at a cathedral, lit a candle and prayed in thanks for the blessing of our already beautiful baby. 

So worth the extra 2.5 miles.

The next morning we knew it was going to be a long day because James didn’t want to ride the metro. (if you read about our Athens trip you’ll know why) We walked in the drizzly weather from our apartment on the east side of the city through an open garden, a year-round carnival, a just getting started Christmas market, through the shopping district, stopped at Sephora for some makeup, took pictures at the Arc de Triomphe and finally arrived at the Eiffel Tower. We used the restroom where there was a security guard to help with pickpocketing and started our long journey up the 674 steps. We had lunch at the top, took our pictures we continued on to Napoleon’s Tomb. We ended up just standing in the doorway of the tomb and felt like that was enough to see.  

Arc de Triomphe

Door of Napoleon's tomb. 

The next morning we went to the Love Bridge to add our lock to the fencing, only to find that it was all boarded up.  The sheer weight of all the locks on the bridge was posing a problem so the city decided to remove the link siding on the bridge and replace it with plexi-glass. We missed our chance to lock our love for all eternity. Darn it. Finally it was time for the Louvre. What an incredible and beautiful place. I didn’t know what the hell I was looking at but I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be impressed. We took our pictures with the Mona Lisa and a toured a replica of Napoleon’s home, I tried on a crown and squeezed a woman’s nipple. Wait, what?! (Refer to pictures below.)

Love Bridge boarded up. 

What an awesome time of year to go to Paris! See the line to get in? Yeah, we didn't either. We didn't wait in a single line on this trip. 

Is she looking at us? 

Princess Whitmer

A little further to your left.

I got James to try escargot! 

Finally our time in Paris came to an end and we took the Eurorail to London. As soon as we stepped foot at Victoria Station we could smell it: Krispy Kreme. What a wonderful Americana moment we had. Totally worth the 2 British pounds we paid for each doughnut. 

Our compact (and I mean tightest room I’ve ever been in) was really nice and was in the perfect location. That night we went to Hyde Park where they had a Christmas market set up with beer gardens, rides, hot wine, brauts and ornaments galore. This sounds so dumb to be excited about but we got to be the creepy people watchers for once! Americans living in the Middle East are usually the ones being stared at so it was nice to have the roles reversed for a few days. It felt good to have our guard down for the first time in quite some time. 

Delicious Braut at Hyde Park Christmas Market

Turks are mostly Muslim so you don't see too many Christmas trees in Turkey.

The next day was the Changing of the Guards which was the most disappointing experience of the whole trip. There were so many people and everyone was trying to see the same thing. There was only one family in front of us but I swear they were the tallest freakin’ family there. Then some Spaniards came up behind us and James almost punched a chick in the face. He looked at me with a rage in his eye that I’ve never seen and said if this girl shoulders me one more time it’s going to get ugly. We ended up walking to another area where an Asian man then tried to shoulder me out of the way to make room for his wife and I don’t think I have ever stood so firm in my life. 

For holding the camera over my head and pointing it through the fencing this is a decent picture of the changing of the guards.

Anyway, after almost causing an international incident we went to the hotel, changed and went to my first theatre production…WICKED was wicked! I wasn’t sure if I was going to be into it but it was one of the highlights of our trip. 

We waited in line for 2 hours one morning to hopefully get tickets. We got the very last two for that day. If you get the chance, see this production!

By the next day we were pretty exhausted so we decided to pay the pretty silver pound and do the Red Bus tour where they drive you to the main sites and you can hop off and on all day. I fell asleep the first time we went through the route so James woke me up at each stop we needed to get off at. Then at lunch we went all American again and ate only the best greasy burgers we’ve ever had. Five Guys never disappoints, even in London. We saw the tower of London, London Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and we were down for the count.

Heaven

Red Bus Tour was so worth the money!

Tower Bridge that usually is called London Bridge. The original bridge was bought at put back together in Lake Havasu, AZ.

It was so freakin cold. Oh and this is Big Ben and Parliment. 

Westminster Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral. 

Unfortunately, the adventure doesn’t stop there. We made it to the airport where our flight was delayed, then missed our connecting flight in Istanbul. The airline was extremely unhelpful at fixing the situation and at 5 months preggers, I was having hot flashes, was starving and it drove me to yell at a Turkish man trying to cut us in line. We had waited in line for new tickets for 2 hours and this dude pushed his way to the window and I didn’t even hesitate…I yelled, “Bir da kika…Lutfen!” (One moment…Please! It’s pretty much the only phrase I know in Turkish) James looked at me wide eyed and told me to be quiet and the ticket lady looked at me wide eyed and the man looked at me wide eyed…he shut his mouth and let James and I have our turn. Even though James could have gotten punched in the face for having a mouthy wife, I thought it was rude that he didn’t thank me for not letting anyone get past us in line! Anywho, we spent the night in the airport on dirty benches. After way too many hours at airports we made it home and James went to work that afternoon…I’m the lazy one of the relationship and called in.

James trying to sleep at the airport.

Crashing a Honeymoon

I started writing this months ago and I just finished it...give me a break, I've been busy! What a great trip this was...only a best friend would be willing to share their honeymoon with us!

My high school best friend, Kaitlin Poe, and I had big dreams to live down the street from one another, raise our families together and travel the world together. For our high school graduation trip we decided we wanted to go to Scotland to play St. Andrews and backpack through Europe. Our grand idea came to an abrupt halt when we started planning and realized how expensive this trip was going to be.

Kaitlin and I (and her cousin) just after our high school graduation.

Our group of high school girl friends.

Kaitlin came out to one of my tournaments and instead of telling the world what a great golfer I am, she said this...
Best friends are the best at keeping us grounded! 

Fast-forward 7 years to 2014. This was a big year in which the stars just happened to align. Kaitlin and Sean got married and the newlyweds decided to honeymoon in Greece. Since James and I weren't able to make the wedding we said, "Hey, the Turks and the Greeks hate each other. Let's meet Kaitlin and Sean in Athens and see what the bickering is all about!" A few weeks ago we hopped on a plane headed to Athens to crash a honeymoon and had a trip that was worth every penny...even the extra pennies that others had their eyes on. (We'll get to that later.)

Our first night walking the streets of Athens.

Our planes landed in Athens about an hour apart. Sean and Kaitlin waited for us so we could all ride the metro to our hotel together. We checked in and they were exhausted and we were starving so we walked around found a cute little restaurant to eat at and then geocached our way back to the hotel. For those of you that don’t know what geocaching is, it is basically a high tech way to find hidden treasure. People will hide a "cache" and record the coordinates online and then others use those coordinates to try and find the cache. It was an awesome way for us to get off the beaten path, see things we wouldn't normally, get into some sketchy parts of town and really just enjoy each other's company.

Dinner the first night.

The next morning we went to Hydra which is one of the many Greek islands and the one that I have wanted to visit most. There are about 3,000 people on the entire island and the only motors are the garbage truck and the fire truck. (Literally just a little pick-up with a fifty gallon barrel in the bed!) We caught a water taxi from Athens and when we stepped off we were in old Greek island life. Donkeys lined up to take luggage and supplies to hotels and homes. Sean had looked up the different caches on the island and there were a whopping 3! The first one was looking inland into town. The next one took us along the graveyard, past a makeshift horse stall, halfway up the mountain, into a hidden cliff full of old bee boxes and on top of a boulder overlooking the entire city. It was an amazing view. We sat there for a little while and I couldn’t help but think, that 7 years ago Kaitlin and I had dreams of seeing the world together and here we were on top of a Greek island together! It's funny how life works out.

The 4 of us at the entrance to the port.

The happy newly weds.

Enjoying the views from our first geocache location.

We meandered back to the port and grabbed another cache in a neighborhood. It looked just like you would imagine a Greek island to be. Stairs leading this way and that way, cats running between your feet, bougainvilleas. Beautiful and tranquil. Once back at our water taxi a woman came up to us and told us our boat ride was cancelled and we could stay on the island for the night. We said we couldn't do that, we needed to get back to Athens where our hotel was. She had us follow her which led us into an alley and we all looked at each other and were thinking the same thing...Should we be blindly following this stranger? It turns out she was legit and got us a ride on a little fishing boat that would drop us off on the mainland and a taxi would be there waiting for us and take us back to Athens. We didn't have many options so we went with it. When we were picked up by the taxi, there was one light on a little dock and no one was around except the driver. Again, we looked at each other and questioned whether we should just hop on in...we did. I was in my second trimester at the time and the road was anything but straight. I was sitting in the middle, James on my left and Kaitlin was sleeping on my right. I began feeling queasy but I didn't want to be that girl so I kept quiet. James noticed and kept asking if I was alright. Then it happened....I puked in the taxi. James started yelling for the driver to stop (it took a minute due to the language barrier) I was kind enough to let the vomit hang out in my mouth while simultaneously trying to wake Kaitlin up, unbuckle her, open her door and climb over her. I'm not sure how but I didn't spill a drop in that car. It took about 2.5 hours in that cab to finally get back to the hotel. Long, great day.

Trying to figure out how we were going to get back to Athens.

The solution....

Waiting at the port. 

The next day we headed out to the Acropolis. The four of us were sort of scattered in the metro car and it was stuffed to the max. When I stepped off, I looked at James and saw the look of pure panic in his eyes. He yelled, "they took my wallet!" We had taken money out at the ATM at the train station and that's when we painted targets on our backs. We had to stop at a café that had wifi so we could cancel our credit cards and get in touch with base personnel to help with the government items that were stolen. James hadn't taken ANYTHING out of his wallet so he had to do a lot more work than if he would have just had the essentials. Lesson learned. Now we travel with those sexy money belts and minimal cards! After we got all of that taken care of we went to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. So amazing! We just meandered, listened to Rick Steves explanations and descriptions and did more geocaching. By the end of the day I think we were all pretty worn out. We went to dinner one last time and said our goodbyes. Sean and Kaitlin were leaving early in the morning and our flight was later in the day.

Just before the incident.

Canceling cards and notifying the bank....so much easier to do that sort of thing on a computer. 

In front of the Parthenon.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus stone theatre.

Parthenon. The white portions are "fillings" used to replace missing pieces. 

The next morning James was so paranoid about pickpocketers that he bear hugged our luggage through the metro station and all the way to the airport. Once we got back to base James had to be escorted to the base police station because all of his IDs had been in his wallet. It took another two hours to finally get home.

I'm not sure but I think he's ready to get home. 

Despite some of the falters it was an amazing trip, with Hydra being the highlight. If you ever get the chance to see it...just do it!

Kaitlin and I wanted to buy this fixer upper and have our Greek getaway home. The boys told us no. 

Fruit stand near. 

Street art was everywhere!

James found his first cache!