Europe, Part the First

This is a "back-post"... Meaning, I meant to blog this all a long time ago, and I will inevitably forget alot of details, but I wanted to go ahead and get at least the skeletal outline of it up anyways.

26 May

I graduated from Samford. B.M. in Piano Performance, B.A. in Spanish and French. I received my national certification from the Music Teachers' National Association the same day. After lunch, I got into the car with Rick and headed to Atlanta... well, it ended up being evening, but same difference. We stayed at his house, then headed for the airport on Sunday. Rick headed off with choir on Air Canada, I took British Airways. The flight was quite pleasant. I constantly remember how much nicer British Airways is than Delta.

28 May - Monday

I manage to get sick at the worst times... this would be one of them. I was with my parents at this point in the trip... but due to my illness I really don't remember much. I know we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but, because the music instrument exhibit was closed, there really wasn't too much of interest to see there. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe... nothing spectacular there, except I've never seen such an expensive hamburger... definitely not a 1 pounder (haha, I know). We called it a day rather early.

30 May - Tuesday

This day, we hit the Museum of London at the Barbican Centre. Unfortunately, very little of it was opened due to some major refurbishments. I think this is the reason that tourists return over and over to the same places... it's the only way you can really see everything. When the sun popped out, we went to climb the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, it got cloudy by the time we got to the top. Nevertheless, I have a photo of me and the parents, and a picture straight down through the centre of the dome.

We stayed at St. Paul's for the Evensong Service.

Introit: Come, Holy Ghost – Gibbons

Canticles: The Fourth Service – Batten

Anthem: Come, Holy Ghost – Attwood

Hymns: 430

After the Evensong, we booked it to Lord of the Rings: The Musical. It's just about as bad as it sounds. It would be one thing if it was a decent musical badly setting the story, or a good setting of the story with bad music (though the former is far preferable)... but both were quite terrible.

31 May - Wednesday

Wednesday, we got up early and headed to Waterloo station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. They had a deal on first class tickets, so we went in style to Paris. Honestly, it wasn't really any better than coach on this particular train (hence, the good price). The only real difference was the free meal, which wasn't really that satisfying. We arrived in Paris, and got in the queue (line) for a taxi, where we were bombarded by gypsies with signs written in English about how abused they were and how you should give them all of your money. They would all scream "Speak English?" in your face, and, if you said yes, 4 more of them came up to you. Fortunately, I can make a good face as though I don't understand. My dad had just gotten a Hilton club card that gave him a free night at any Hilton hotel... so, we stayed 1 night in the Paris Hilton (no pun intended). After dropping off our things at the hotel, I dragged my parents on the métro to go to île de la Cité. Once there, we went to the Conciergerie (Prison). It's quite famous, especially as the holding place for most of France's "worst" criminals, including Marie Antoinette. Unfortunately, they only give tours in French... so, my parents were quite bored, and much moreso when I got completely tired of translating. Afterwards, we took a quick peak inside Notre-Dame before returning to the hotel. For the record, I don't think Hilton quite means the same thing in Europe as it does in the states. Yes, the room was very nice, but not really much more than the cheap hotels I've stayed in. The photo is me in the Conciergerie.