We then made our way over to the Ile de la Cite to visit Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte Chapelle is the royal chapel that was built by King Louis IX in his “Court Style” Gothic architecture which influenced Gothic architecture throughout Europe, including Westminster Abbey. We had to wait for almost an hour just to get into the chapel because it is in the same complex as the Court of Justice. So we had to go through security more strict than the airport. I don’t know if it was worth the wait, but the stained glass that covers every wall of the chapel was magnificent.
Notre Dame was incredible too. It is so massive. Thankfully there was no wait here and the entrance was free! We walked around inside admiring the impressive Gothic architecture and stained glass.
After this we walked across the bridge to Ile St-Louis to have ice cream at Bertillon, a famous ice cream shop. A lot of the flavors were French words that we didn’t know so we ended up getting chocolate. It was really good. Their ice cream is very rich and creamy. We sat on a wall over looking the Seine to eat our ice cream and enjoy the nice weather. As we were finishing up our ice cream an interesting old French man started to sing, Louis Armstrong style, on the street corner across from us.
After all the walking we did the past couple days we decided call it a day and head back to our hotel early. On our way back we stopped at this little shop that we’ve gone to the past couple days to get some food for dinner. The nice old man who is always there recognized us and was excited to see us again. He doesn’t seem to speak English and we don’t really speak French so we just end up saying “bonjour” and “Merci” to each other. Its kind of funny and nice to have this routine.
We got back to our hotel around 8. Google lied to us and said that there was a movie theater a couple stops from us on the metro that had Wolverine playing at 8:45. Well, we got off the metro and there were actually 3 movie theaters all in the same area. After we ran across the street a million times trying to figure out which movie theater to go to, we finally realized that Google was mistaken. One of the theaters wasn’t even playing Wolverine, and the other two’s next showing was at 10pm. So we saw there was a Starbucks a couple doors down from one of the theaters, and hung out there until 10. That was an experience in itself! Their menu was the same, but they had extremely delicious looking pastries: slices of chocolate cake, and fancy chocolate cups, etc. I got a white chocolate donut and Brittany got a slice of the lemon pound cake. Our frappacinos were also creamier then they are in the States. Anyways, after I ordered in French I asked the guy if he spoke English. He said a little, and then I attempted to explain that I worked at Starbucks in the United States and if I could get a discount. After repeating myself multiple times and having all three employees listening and trying to figure it out, they became really excited that someone who worked at Starbucks across seas was in their store. I got my discount as well!
Oh and Wolverine was really good! It was fun watching it in a French movie theater. And it was even better because we got to see it 2 days before everyone else at home!
After Musé e d’Orsay, we went on a river cruise on the Seine. We got off the boat and walked down the Champs Elysee.
The weather started to turn on us, and it began to pour! Of course it had to be windy as well so our umbrellas kept turning inside out. We sought cover under the entrance to Virgin Records with many other people doing the same thing as us and waited for the rain to pass.
Once it finally did pass, we went to Laduree, a well known tea room and patisserie in Paris. It was absolutely amazing inside. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. It was very traditional Parisian-looking with colorful pastries all along the wall. People were there behind the counter to help you pick out what you wanted and wrap it up nicely with adorable packaging. Laduree is particularly known for their macaroons so we bought 6 total. We bought a variety of flavors: vanilla, chocolate, coffee, lemon, and even rose. Our favorite was the vanilla, it tasted like a warm version of vanilla ice cream. The rose one was the most interesting. It tasted like we were eating rose perfume!
Of course after Laduree we kept heading up the Champs Elysee and visited the Arc de Triomphe. Luckily we found someone to take our picture, and he actually knew how to take a good photograph!
We got back on the river cruise and went to the Eiffel Tower. We again had to wait in line. We felt like most of our day was spent just waiting (kind of like how it is at Disneyland). When we got to the middle level, we saw a rainbow in the distance!
We got back on the elevator and went all the way to the top of the tower. We were so high up! The view was absolutely magnificent! We were lucky that it didn’t start raining on us agaub. We actually had a very clear view. However, it was so cold that our hands and feet were completely frozen. We decided to leave the Eiffel tower, but of course it took forever to get back down. People were being so aggressive too! They kept pushing us every which way.
And here’s the Eiffel Tower after we were leaving it. Notice the significant weather change!
Once we finally got out of the Eiffel Tower, it had begun to rain again. We got a little lost trying to find a metro. We finally found one and were relieved when we got inside and defrosted ourselves. On the way back to the hotel we picked up some soda and cheese and had a makeshift picnic in our room with stuff we had left over from breakfast and lunch. 
After we ate we got on a bus and went to the Edinburgh Zoo. Of course a simple act of just sitting on a bus has to be eventful for us. These 3 teenage boys on a bus next to us made obscene gestures towards us. Brittany and I just put on our sunglasses and looked straight ahead since we are obviously too cool for them anyways.
While we were looking at the penguins, the announcer said that you can adopt a penguin. I thought it was going to be tons of money so I wasn’t even going to ask about it at first. But we soon found out that prices started at only 40 pounds. So after walking around the zoo a bit, we went to the reception and I filled out all the paperwork and handed them my credit card. I am now the official owner of a real penguin!!! And they are going to put my name up outside the penguin exhibit!
After buying myself a penguin, Brittany and I left the zoo and went on a hunt to try and find her boyfriend a souvenir that has his family crest on it since his ancestors are from Scotland. We soon discovered that his clan is categorized as “old and rare” and therefore could not find ANYTHING. After going into many different shops and asking everyone we could find, we followed a lead to the bottom of a basement where we finally found something. Of course I cannot mention what we finally found, since it’s a surprise. But it felt like a treasure hunt and we were so happy when we finally found something. 
We returned to our bed and breakfast to pay for our stay since we were going to be leaving early the next day. We had a nice chat with the Colin’s wife about our trip to Europe and how we’ve been friends since we’ve been 8. We headed out to dinner and had a 3 course meal at an Italian restaurant. And on the way back from dinner, we took a different route to get back to our bed and breakfast so we could take some stunning pictures of Arthur’s Seat. 
We did manage to figure out the bus system, though, and made our way to Edinburgh Castle. It was so picturesque, situated at top a grassy hill overlooking the city. It was really cool to walk around the stone castle and see the museums inside and the Scottish Crown Jewels. 
We then had dinner at The Filling Station, an American-style diner. We ordered burgers and shakes. It was funny to have American food in Scotland because it all tasted a little bit off. The biggest differences were the milkshakes. They weren't really milkshakes at all. More like frothy milk. They needed more ice cream and flavor. And Claire was very disappointed that there was no whipped cream and no cherry.
After lunch we walked down to Harrods, the most insane department store I’ve ever seen. It is huge, elaborate, and expensive. We went up to the Georgian Restaurant on the fourth floor for traditional afternoon tea. It was quite an experience. At first Claire and I felt very out of place, like we were obviously Americans who had no idea what we were doing. We ordered strawberry kiwi tea and were brought plates of tea sandwiches, scones, and desserts by a very twitchy waiter. It seemed like we were the only people there making messes of their plates as we picked at our sandwiches and took apart our scones to remove the raisins. Though we felt slightly better when we noticed the proper-looking old lady at the table next to us had destroyed her scone as well. We then waited for someone to bring us a check, which they never did. No one came to check on us either, so we couldn’t ask for the check. We’ve been noticing that waiters over here give you a very long time to enjoy your food and don’t bring you the check unless asked. Eventually I caught a waiter’s eye and when he came to check on us we asked for the check. It took about 5 minutes to get the check. We put our credit cards in the book and waited for it to be picked up. It took probably about 20 minutes for someone to come pick up our credit cards. After that it took over 30 minutes before they brought us back our receipts to sign. So overall it took us an hour to pay. But it was still fun to sit there and chat and experience tea the way it is supposed to be experienced.
Then we did something that any self-respecting Harry Potter fan must do: we went to King’s Cross Station and took pictures with the trolley at Platform 9 ¾. We had to ask for directions, just like Harry did, but we were met with a much nicer response and directions as to where to find it. When we got there there were already people taking pictures so we didn’t feel as silly.
We returned to our hostel, did laundry, and packed up to leave for Edinburgh the next morning.
Originally, we wanted to go to Tate Modern Museum and return to the National Gallery, but we felt it would be better to spend our time resting instead. We bought Brittany some cold medicine and returned to the hostel for a nap.
We got off the cruise in Westminster and headed towards Westminster Abbey. We 
We hopped on the tube and headed towards the National Gallery. We only had less then an hour to explore this massive museum before they closed. So we are probably going to go back tomorrow because we 
We sat next to two friendly locals who recommended that we go to Leicester Square for dessert. On our way there, we stopped at a bookstore and picked up British versions of Harry Potter. Brittany chose “Prisoner of 
Leicester Square was a happening place full of restaurants, bars, cinema, theater, and ice cream parlors. We finally headed back to our hostel after a long day. Of course, no day is complete without picking up a free paper and reading it on the tube on your way home, which Brittany and I quickly picked up on!
Cheers!
We arrived in London this morning and hit the ground running! We took the tube to our hostel and then into the heart of London where we got on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of London. The picture above is us on top of the bus! It's was a beautiful day in London, very sunny. In fact, a security guard told us he wants us to stay in London because we brought some sun from the "Sunshine State".
On our bus tour we learned a lot of facts about places in London. Like this church, which was the inspiration for the first tierd wedding cake. Which is neat, because Claire and I love decorating cakes!
At the end of the day, we decided to take a ride on the London Eye. The panaramic view of London from the top was amazing. It was even better because it was a clear day and the sun was just beginning to set.
After riding the London Eye, we crossed Westminster Bridge and said "hello" to Big Ben for Matt. We hopped on the tube in search of food near Trafalgar Square. Claire really wanted pizza, and we happened to walk right into a pizza place coming out of the undground. It sounded like a touristy place, but it actually turned out to be a local hang-out. It was cheap and delicious.