Europe trip 2006 Spain→ France→ UK

Ko-Shin, Dai-Rong and I spent almost 1 month traveling in Spain, France and the UK. We arrived in London and purchased the tickets of The Phantom of The Opera for July 28 at Her Majesty's Theater on July 10. I like to watch people. Before flying to Barcelona by easyJet flight, we walked around the next morning. After our trip to Barcelona and France, we took the Eurostar from Paris to London (2.5 hrs) on July 28.

Of course, we didn't miss must-eat British foods. English breakfast- eggs, bacon, sausages, bread, mushrooms, baked beans, tomatoes. Fish and Chips- fried fish with French fries.

Westminster Cathedral   

July 12 Barcelona

July 13-17 Cantonigros

Leaving Ko-Shin and Dai-Rong in Barcelona on July 13th morning, I went to join the festival with Taipei Teacher's Choir in Cantonigros, in the north of Barcelona. The good news was we won the 3rd prize in the mixed choirs!

Our conductor, accompanist and I stayed in a friendly and sweet hostfamily during the 4 nights. The host father is an Italian and the host mother is a local. They have 3 adorable children. They prepared wonderful dinner, a party and invited their friends. The backyard was full of laughs every night. What a great time we had together!

In Taiwan, I usually have supper at 6:00-7:00pm. Can you believe people in Spain have supper after 8:00? We had 4 meals a day. We had breakfast at hostfamily. The festival served lunches and suppers in a big tent. Eating with other choirs was fun! And, we had supper again with our hostfamily after coming back from the festival. It's 10:00-11:00! Good for my weight. ^_^

July 17-19 Barcelona

 July 20-28 Tours-Orleans-Paris-Reims-Paris-London

July 28-Aug.4 London-Bath-Oxford-York-Lake District-Edinburgh

Reims, a quiet town

our itinerary: Tours-Orleans-Paris-Reims-Paris-London

Musee National du Louvre is huge!

 

~ July 26 night ~ It's been hot in Europe. Air conditioner isn't common in France. Women like to flirt a fan on the metro or walking around. There's never this kind of picture in Taiwan. Ko-Shin and I sat at the balcony after backing from Louvre. Suddenly, the wind was blowing hard like typhoon, and then it rained and thundered. Hope it'll be cool tomorrow.

We arrived at Louvre at noon. We watched the website of the museum and spent time in the bookstore and shops. The ticket (€6) is cheaper after 18:00 on Wed., so we waited till the moment to go into the museum. There's a numerous collection of works and the palace is so huge that one can spend a couple of days indside! I wonder the king ever got lost?

Tomorrow we'll go to Reims. I'm going to bed. Good night~

The 4th day in Paris-the 16th day in Europe

~ July 25 night ~ We went to Chatrau de Versailles today. Ko-Shin and I spent 2 hours walking in the huge hunting ground! It's pleasant to lie on the grass and look at the sky and the boats on the lake.

People say the French are cold, but we don't think so. Whenever we asked for the directions, we greeted people in French. They tried their best to let us know in French or in poor English, even led us to our destination. How kind and friendly of them! If you can't speak French, the tip is saying an English word to the locals or pointing at the destination on a map, not saying a long sentence.
We walked a lot and sometimes felt tired and hungry. Going to the restaurants is expensive, so we often go to the supermarkets to buy some fruit, bread, vegetables, milk and cans and cook by ourselves. Well, I start to miss Taiwanese food.