Europe: Paris: Days 6-7

Bonsoir!

That means good evening.

(pictures still have ** at the end :D)

Well, Paris is FANTASTIQUE!!! Yesterday, we got croissants from a nearby bakery. The man refused to speak to us in English, although we could tell he understood what we were saying. I think they think that they're too good for our language. Pfttt.

So we got up and went to Notre Dame. ** Since it was Sunday, they were having mass and we sat for a few minutes for it- but since it was in another language with no translation, we left soon…

We took some pictures around the cathedral as well. 

Then we left and walked a long way to the Louvre! We waited in an enormous line for about and hour, then waited for my dad for another while to get tickets. We saw a bunch of statues that weren't…. greatly…. modest….. :D

We saw a bunch of random other things as well… but then!!!!!!

The MONA LISA!!!! And you could take pictures with it! **

We left soon after… ish… but yeah.

Then we walked along the river Seine and bought some prints for super cheap of some beautiful Paris paintings. And keychains. Yeah. 

We tried to catch a few subways, but they were closed down for a very cool (and dangerous) (and scary) reason- there was a protest happening in Paris today! It was against the recent law that legalized gay marriage and boy it was LOUD!!! We could hear the speaker from about 10 blocks away ALL OVER the city. We went and saw the crowds, but all the bridges over were closed off by patrolling policemen in full defense gear :) **

Then we walked down some streets for a long time and found a nice café. We got Nutella crepes and tea (of course, I didn't drink that disgusting dried herb brew, I got hot chocolate). 

Then we walked and saw the Arc du Triumph! Very neat. **

That's pretty much all for Sunday.

Today- first thing, we saw the Eiffel Tower! ** We were in line for a total of one hour and 23 minutes… But then we hopped on the elevator crammed with smelly people and rode up to the second floor, which is the second little tier in the pictures. 

When we got to the top, it was a fantastique view!!!!!! SO PRETTY!!! **

We also went down on the green beside it and ate lunch and took pictures. **

We rode the subway to the Sacrè Coure or however you say that, which is a tiny little town with an enormous Buddist-temple-looking Catholic cathedral… ** It had a great view as well. **

Then we went back down and got our charcoal picture drawn! 

That pretty much explains it as well. 

Au revoir!

~Ashley

Picture time :)

Notre Dame

Um... I hope you don't need a caption for this one.

The Arc du Triumph!

Think I could ask for a picture with them? Nah.

my hero!

my hero!

the view from my hero!

us in front of my hero!

the view from the Sacre Coure or whatever.... :D

the Sacre Coure catholic cathedral.

~Ashley

Europe: Just an FYI

Just so you all know, when we get home (June 2nd) I will be posting a bunch of pictures with captions of what they are from Europe. Like, a ton of pictures. Yeah. It's just they take forever to load and I don't have unlimited time with the computer (although I do have unlimited internet now!!! :D), so it will be easier to post them after.
So keep posted on June 2nd-4th ish...
And I'd like to point out that in our hotel, there was a sign on the third floor that said, "3th"......

These Frenchmen ain't so smart with they're grammar.

(That was purposeful.)

(Trust me.)

~Ashley

Europe: London/Bath/Oxford: Days 3-5

'ello Mates!

(All my pictures are at the end again- the events have **) 

Sorry about the delays- I've not been allotted any of the 30 free minutes, and on the night with free internet, I was too tired to write.

So anyway, Tuesday! We went on the London Eye first thing in the morning- beautiful views. A half hour of picture taking :) **

Then we went…. to Kings Cross Station! We found the monument for Platform 9 3/4 and took pictures :) **

Then we exited the tube and went to the British Library. Too boring to give a picture.

Yeah.

So then we went to the Royal Opera House, where the Royal Ballet performs, and took a picture with the ballerina statue :) ** 

Then we went to High Tea at the Lounge- sandwiches, scones, and desserts :) 

The British Museum was…. boring…. I'm also not a museum person, at all. We went to Harrods (HUGE department store, the size of Park City but ONE store, for all you Lancastrians) and shopped as well.

That was really all we did that day. So then- Wednesday.

We left right away from the hotel and went to get a car from the airport. Then we drove (I slept in the car :D) the two-ish hours to Windsor. The town was quite beautiful and quaint- we had British pizza, which is not quite as, uh, delicious… as American pizza we found… and Tango, which is the British version of Fanta- except they had green apple! So good!

Then we went and toured Windsor Castle. **

We left and drove to……. Highclere Castle, where they filmed DOWNTON ABBEY!!! We trespassed to get a picture and I popped on the zoom lens :D **

We drove many more hours to Stonehenge and found a fence around it and you had to pay 20 pounds- which is 30 dollars- to get in twenty feet closer… so we stood outside the fence and snapped some pictures. We were there for a total of about three minutes. No kidding. **

Then we drove the rest of the way to Bath, had dinner, and went to the hotel.

Next day! Thursday.

We toured the Roman Baths, went shopping, and saw Bath Abbey.

We had "cream tea" in which I had a 

" chocolate milkshake", which consisted of chocolate milk with a little dollop of ice cream floating in it! Not what a milkshake is in America, I ASSURE you. 

Very nice town. 

We drove to Oxford and found our hotel, then drove into Abingdon for a nice… dinner. I was sick and therefore did not eat much :( It was delicious and I wish I could have, though!

The next day, Friday, we went to Mcdonalds for breakfast- porridge is oatmeal as we found! Then we drove into Oxford and spent the entire wet, rainy, FREEZING day touring the town. Not very nice AT ALL. Terrible. But we had a marvelous three course dinner at a pub- we loitered there for three whole hours!

Then we went back to the hotel and attempted to find a good British show- but ended up watching 5 USA. We're not original at all.

Saturday, we woke up and had croissants and muffins from Tesco, the British supermarket, and then flew from Heathrow Airport to Paris, France. Our time in England is over, but we are coming to something MUCH better. Maybe.

Yeah. So when we got there, we took the subway (tube no longer) to our hotel and checked in. It looked very scary in the hallway, but the room is nicer than the other ones!

Oh, and did I mention? We have FREE WIFI now!!!! Hurrah! Yeah.

Cheers! (or should I say au revoir? or however you spell that…)

~Ashley

Pictures are here!!! :D

Europe: London: Day 2

'ello, chaps!

(I'm putting all my pictures at the end with captions, just FYI- Saves that precious 30 minutes of free internet :D)

Still in jolly London- we still have a whole 'nother day here until we leave the premises for Bath, Oxford, etc. 

Today we did even more sightseeing, including the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace- it was PACKED!!! 

I managed to elbow my way to the very very front, without my family :) And therefore got many amazing pictures. This one chap was leaning on me for a tripod for his camera! It was quite vexing. Yes.

So anyway, after that, we took another incredibly long stroll to get "tea" someplace called Paul's. I didn't even have tea… just a salad! :)

After that, we went to the National Gallery and plodded through those halls- I'm not much of an art person. 

And even after THAT, we went to the National Portrait Gallery beside. Ugh.

After those two STIMULATING experiences, we walked several hundred miles (or so it seemed) back to our hotel and freshened up. 

We hopped on the tube after a few minutes of confusion with the ticket machines and rode to Picadilly Circus, where we browsed Chinatown and found a dark and very snug Taiwanese restaurant. 

We were all (but Dad :D) pretty wary about it at first, because the menu included words like "intestine", "belly", and "foot". How… exciting.

But once the food arrived, it was very great. Pork kebabs and ground pork (tasted like ground beef…) rice bowls are very good.

As I also may add, the sign on the door said, "Please Knock The Door"….. you can imagine our wariness, I suppose.

We left and headed through Chinatown across the street tooooo………. our theatre for LES MISERABLES!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say, I was pretty psyched going in. But coming out was a whole different experience. The whole performance ABSOLUTELY blew me away. It was better than the two Broadway shows I've seen (Wicked and Newsies). 

Jean val Jean was AMAZING, and so was Javert's understudy, and Enjorlas (or however you spell that) was fab as usual. Marius and Cosette were a little downing, but whatever- the rest made up for it- especially the 5 or 6 year old 4 ft Baby Cosette- ADORBS!!!

After that, we caught the tube again over to our hotel, and here I sit. 

Night.

~Ashley

Here's my pictures! Enjoy :)

Europe: London: Day 1

G'day mates!

Well, we're here! Good ol' jolly Britain. I can already feel myself falling into the accent little by little- it doesn't take much :)

So anyway, I'm planning to do these Europe posts mostly with pictures, and describe the pictures, and therefore tell what we did each day. 

Since we only have 30 minutes of free wifi, I wrote this on my Notes and copied and pasted it into Blogger- waste not, want not, right? Yes.

So here it goes- May 17-19 in pictures.

Our first view of the London Eye!

A small obsession with telephone boxes

Big Ben and Us

We took an open topped, double decker bus tour and I took tons of pictures- that I didn't know what of… so I shall not put those, no.  :)

Saint Paul's Cathedral

The Tower Bridge

That's about it for today- I'll try to post tomorrow with our 30 minutes of free internet :)

Cheerio!!!

~Ashley

Some Tidbits of Random Information That You Probably Don't Want To Know Anyway, Too Bad.

Just a few random tidbits before we depart on our adventure!

I attempted to sew a camera strap slipcover out of this too-small beauty, but it failed. The finished one is on the left- I know, I know, it doesn't look like a fail, but it was. I tried to sew them together without turning them inside out, aaaaaaand.... YEAH, it was just a huge fail. But.... as you will see later, I'll try again!
Sorry about the order of events in this post- I'm not very organized if you couldn't already tell that.
Hey, makes for a good abstract artist.


 I'm a very random, unorganized, and non-OCD person anyway- except for certain things.... like in photography, the subject CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT be in the middle of the frame or I will go completely bonkers. It's just me. ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 On the happy side, I did manage to convince my mom to let me use our never-used, light, airy, beautiful guest room as my sewing room! Here are some random pictures of me "moving in" :D Don't ask why I put these. I have no idea.

Another unorganized piece of information:
 Although, from that beautiful shirt, although I failed on the camera strap part of it, I did manage to harvest a beautiful piece of lace, which I put to good use decorating the front cover of the journal that I mentioned (and had a picture of) a few posts ago. But does anyone actually READ this???!!! Nope. Too bad!

Hey look! Blogger will let me write in this space between the pictures although now there's not much left... ANYWAY!! I continue!!!!!

Here are my bags for Europe-

yep, that's all I'm taking- one small suitcase, one small backpack, and my laptop. 

Pretty depressing for two weeks in Europe, right? 

No! 

I'm fine with it- I have lots of convertible outfits.

And anyway, we only get ONE carry on for the trip directly to France (then we fly to England), and it has to be less than 10 pounds!!! EEK!

Look! I have some more empty space!!! What shall I say? There's too much in my brain to filter it, and anyway, it's gone now...............................

I've decided to show you a few corners of my room. This is right below my mirror, and right above my... dressing table? Whaddo ya call THAT? IDK. It has my hair stuff on it. Yeah. I'll shut up.
Anyway, I made these little handy-dandy hair-stuff hooks with ribbon and hoop earrings! The middle one is missing, as it is in one of the bags shown above :) Just take a thumbtack and stab it through a ribbon, then tie a bow around it and stick it in the wall! Handy, right?

 These are the two favorite items in my room, both given to me by my aunt- my mustache mirror sticky things, and my mini Chinese lanterns! Thanks Aunt Jen :)
Huh, nice aperture in that one...... :D

And finally, my masterpiece. I just made this BEAUTIFUL camera slipcover this morning from plain fabric- isn't it awesome??!! And comfortable too!                               

EMPTY SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

If you can't already tell, I'm kinda psyched for Europe. Very, very, very, very psyched. 

I'll try to post every night with pictures and stuff, but that might not happen, noting our busy schedule. BUT- on the way there tonight, we will see the sun rise probably over the ocean.... or Spain.... but whatever. So I should be getting stunning pictures of that! I will not be posting tonight or tomorrow probably though, so sorry :) 

Great stuff. 

 ~Ashley

EMPTY SPAAAAAACE!!!
I'm leaving now. 

A Terrible Story of Chocolate and Chickpeas

There once was a girl. She was so fond of chocolate and sugar that she ended up really wanting to eat some one day. So she decided to make an actual HEALTHY recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough dip.
Little did she know what fatal mistake she was making.
With her food processor out and a can of chickpeas beside her, the girl continued through the last hours of her life, not knowing something was amiss.
She blended the ingredients and folded in the chocolate chips, then spooned up a single bite to see if her creation was well-made.
As soon as the miraculous mixture passed her lips, her eyes widened in surprise.
Staring down at the dip that lay before her, she slowly cradled the Rubbermaid container to her chest and crooned to it, "Preciousssssss....."
Grabbing the biggest serving spoon in her mother's kitchen drawer, she began scooping up enormous mouthfuls and shoving them in her mouth. With the heavenly brown mixture smeared all over her face, she looked like a gluttonous food critic gone horribly wrong.
She kept eating, and when the mixture was gone, she bolted to the store to buy more ingredients!
She sped through traffic, got thirty-seven servings of all the ingredients, and returned home.
As soon as she arrived home, the possessed child bolted inside to its waiting food processor. Throwing handfuls of chickpeas and chocolate chips onto the whirling blade, it roared in delight.
Shoveling handfuls of dip into its mouth, the monster began to swell. It got bigger and bigger that it crushed its house and family to death, but still it ate.
And ate.
And ate.
The previous-girl-now-monster was so fat that all of a sudden, it burst, shooting out golden splats of cookie dough dip all over the surrounding houses and sidewalks.
And thus died the poor girl, whose named used to be Ashley.
If only she hadn't eaten so much of that heavenly cookie dough dip!
The end.
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/23/want-to-eat-an-entire-bowl-of-cookie-dough/

Healthy Baked Apples

I've tried over the years to go "healthy" with my eating, but it has always failed. I've decided to try one more time and actually take bigger steps this time. So this morning, I boiled up a big vat of green tea and put it in the fridge to cool.
Also, I HATE apple. HATE HATE HATE. Well, plain.
So I found a delicious "recipe" (more like guidelines) to make a baked apple. Theirs involved the oven, 25 minutes, and a bunch of other things I don't have time for.
So I decided to make up my own. I took the picture after I was halfway done eating it, so it looks a little strange...........

Ingredients:
1 small apple
cinnamon
maple syrup

Directions:
Slice the apple, removing the core. Sprinkle some cinnamon (however much you like) all over it and microwave it for 40 seconds. Take it out and drizzle some maple syrup (again, however much you like) on top. Microwave for another 40 seconds. Take out. LET COOL!!!!
Enjoy!
~Ashley

T-Minus 2 Days

And there you have it. T-minus 2 days until we depart on the adventure of our LIVES!
 Bath.

 London.

 Oxford.

 Versailles.

 Normandy.

 Orleans.

Who's excited to hear all about the updates probably every night? That's right, folks, I'll be posting probably every night! Keep posted, or even subscribe **hint hint**

~Ashley

Food, fun, and more food

On Friday, we participated in a traveling/progressive dinner with our wonderful youth group- daaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww :D

The first house had a beautiful garden and I got some great pictures.

A bumblebee!!!

I don't think Rachel was ready for this...

Don't eat this one.

Courtney and Jesse dawwwww :)

Get  ready for some great faces from SAUNDRA.... Please don't kill me! 

Another good one from Saundra..

Great one.

Megs and Courtney :D

~Ashley