As a Southern California native and a former Disneyland pass holder, making a trip to Disney Paris was an absolute must for me during my visit to Paris. To start the day, my family and I paid a visit to our favorite bakery and fromagerie for some chocolate croissants for breakfast and a baguette and brie for lunch, since buying food at the park can be expensive. Then we hopped on the red line and took the 45 minute commute through the French countryside to the park. It was exciting for me to compare and contrast both of the parks. The park was very similar as the original in terms of design and rides and I was surprised as to how much English the employees spoke and how even the parades were in English! However, it was a bit smaller and had a few less rides than the original, so it didn't take all day to go through it. I would highly recommend this day trip to anyone who is in Paris and looking for something fun to do and a way be a kid again, even if it's just for a few hours.
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After an 8 hour bus/ferry ride we arrived in Paris. Tired, sleepy and in a country where we didn't fully know the language, my family and I decided to take it easy the first day. The first thing we did after leaving our luggage at the hotel was find a bakery and buy fresh chocolate croissants. I don't know why but the chocolate croissants are just ten times better in Paris than in the U.S. We then hopped over to the Museum of Natural Science and the Museum of Natural History. Both are very interesting places and I highly recommend them if you are looking for something to do for a relaxed or rainy day in Paris. The next day we headed over to see the Eiffel Tower. The elevators were broken at the time so we had to walk up the 600+ steps, which made us appreciate the view that much more. After some lunchtime crepes we went to see the Arch de Triomphe, did some shopping on the Avenue des Champes-Elysees and finished the day with a French dinner that included delicious escargot.
The last two days in London were very relaxed in comparison to the first two days due to the rain and Easter Sunday. This meant that I had to get creative since everything was either closed due to Easter or because it was raining very hard outside and I didn't want to get soaked. Luckily, I managed to pay a visit to the Tower Bridge and Big Ben before the rain. On Saturday night I even got to see my friend, Matt, who is doing his MBA in London, and who showed me the hip part of London by taking me bar hopping and to a disco tech. On Sunday, I went to church for Easter Mass at one of the most beautiful churches I'd ever seen, St. James. I finished off the day by heading over to the Natural History Museum before hopping on a bus to Paris.
After years of wanting and wishing to visit Europe, I finally had the chance to this last April. I spent two weeks eating, drinking and walking around London, Paris and Dublin. My first stop was in London, where I spent four very fast paced days exploring the city. It was exciting to be able to see the city I had read so much about growing up. During my stay, I visited all of the usual tourist spots such as, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and King's Cross Station. I even managed to get my Sherlock Holmes fix by visiting the museum on 221B Baker Street and visiting the Sherlock Holmes Pub.
My last few days in Nashville consisted of wandering around the city and just seeing where the day would take me. Between the famous Sweet Potato Pancakes at Pancake Pantry (I'm still dreaming of them),the Parthenon, the talented upcoming musicians at the Blue Bird Cafe and the local craftbeer, I was not disappointed in what I found. I also paid a visit to the Nashville Zoo, because A) I love zoos and B) they have the largest exhibit of anteaters in the nation (my college mascot). Unfortunately, the zoo decided to take the anteaters off exhibit to breed them and they put up a kangaroo exhibit in their place. Luckily, it was the coolest kangaroo exhibit I'd ever seen so I wasn't too upset. And of course, what Nashville vacation would be complete without listening to music and dancing the night away on Broadway?!
Nashville. What can I say about Nashville, other than the fact that this was the city I was most excited to visit and I couldn't have thought of a better city to end my trip. My days in Music City basically consisted of drinking good beer and listening to country music. But don't worry, I did manage to take a break from Broadway and get a little culture by visiting some museums and other historical sites. Overall, I couldn't have imagined a better trip, well, maybe if I had met a Southern cowboy to bring home, but let's not get into that and just focus on the awesome pics I took :)
After Graceland, I did a little exploring around the streets of Memphis. My first stop was a visit to High Cotton Brewing, where I talked to the brewer for 3 hours! After talking to him about all of their plans for the upcoming year, I'm really excited to see what this place has in store for the future. Afterwards, I stopped at the site where MLK was shot, had some Memphis style BBQ and even listened to some music on Beale Street. The next day I paid a visit to the legendary Sun Studio, where people like Elvis and Johnny Cash got their start and then headed over to Gus' Fried Chicken where I proceeded to have the best fried chicken of my life. I spend the rest of the day just walking around downtown and taking in the sights.
As much as it pained me to leave New Orleans, I decided that the next leg of my adventure would be a trip to Memphis to pay a visit to the King of Rock and Roll. Never in a million years did I ever think I would visit Memphis but I am sure glad I did. It was very interesting to visit Graceland and see the place Elvis called home. There were so many things you could do in Graceland that you could literally spend the whole day there. However, due to finances, I decided to just take a tour of the house and property. So here are some of the pictures I took while walking around the property. Enjoy!
Although I probably could have, I decided to not spend all of my time in the French Quarter. Instead, I went out and took a swamp tour and explored the Garden District where I even did a little beer tasting.
However, I also couldn't leave New Orleans and the French Quarter without exploring Bourbon Street, trying bananas foster and a few other things ! Fellow readers, I am soooooo sorry for the super late post! I recently flew to Europe for a few weeks and thought that I would be able to post from there, but between the jetlag and running around the streets of Europe you can see how it would be difficult to update the blog. Nevertheless, I am back and I promise to try harder to not go as long without blogging.
After Dallas I took the bus down to New Orleans for four days. I was very excited to visit this city since I knew it would be unlike any I had visited before. It was also the first city I would be visiting where I didn't know a single person, so I was a little nervous at the same time. I didn't know what to expect but between the southern food, live jazz on every corner and the historical locations, New Orleans did not disappoint. During my visit I had the obligatory beinegts from Cafe du Monde, walked around the French Quarter and even caught a show at the legendary Preservation Hall. After 5 AMAZING days of exploring Austin and San Antonio, I decided to make a quick detour to Dallas and visit one of my oldest friends in the world. I met Karina back in the first grade when we became "name buddies". After the fourth grade Karina moved to Texas but we would always make it a point to see each other every time she came back to California. I had never had the chance to visit Karina in Texas so I thought it would be nice to pay her a visit for once. I got to visit the JFK Assassination Site and Memorial, the Fort Worth Stockyards and even jumped in the water fountain in Sundance Square Plaza.
Here are some of the additional pictures from my Austin trip. I took a walk along Town Lake to do some reading, had my first experience with Tex-Mex, did some beer tasting and went bar hopping on 6th Street. I also met up with my friend, Ed and went beer tasting at Austin Beerworks, where I got to try beer with real glitter in it! I even took a day trip to San Antonio because I was dying to visit the Alamo and explore the Riverwalk.
After Phoenix, I hopped on over to Austin for five days. If you know me, you know how long I had been wanting to visit Austin and couldn't have been more excited! During my time in Austin, I got to visit the UT campus, eat some great BBQ, try some local beer and even see my old friend, Ed. I definitely left a piece of my heart in Austin and I absolutely can't wait to visit again!
A few weeks ago, I started on a "road trip" (I traveled by bus and two plane rides) through some of the southern states and kicked off my trip by spending a few days in Phoenix visiting my uncle.
My uncle has lived in Phoenix for almost 20 years and he always comes back to Los Angeles for the holidays, but we never visit him, so I thought it would be nice to go and visit him for a change. My trip basically consisted of hiking, eating, watching baseball and visiting A LOT of breweries. It was great to visit the place my uncle gets to call home and just be able to catch up with him. After Phoenix I hopped on a plane and made my way to the Live Music Capital of the World- Austin, Texas! |
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