Bonjour!--Day 1

2 May 2010
Compiegne, France
via Madrid, Spain (6 May 2010)

Hey, folks! So I'm actually in Madrid, but I'll update you first about the trip from Sweden onward.

First of all, we left Lulea on Saturday. Scandinavian airlines were luckily flying (no more volcano clouds!) to Stockholm that day. From Stockholm, we got on a plane bound for London, England.

When we arrived in London for our 11 hour layover, we got an Underground Pass and headed off to see a bit of London. We made it to Trafalgar Square on the Picadilly Line of the Underground.







We ate some fish and chips at a little restaurant off to the side. While we were eating, it started to rain pretty hard. After we finished eating, it was still raining, so we opted to see London via bus. Sadly, this bus went about one stop before stopping. We got off in the pouring rain, wandered around a bit trying to find another bus stop or an Underground station.




We walked by the London Eye and Big Ben before we found the Underground Station. We decided to call it a night and head back to the London airport. We spent the night on the [freezing cold] floor of the London Heathrow airport. We woke up around 4:30, checked in, and went to the gate. I slept there for a bit longer, which was surprisingly comfortable considering that I slept sitting up.




Finally, we got on the plane to Paris! Somehow Amy managed to find us in the arrivals at the airport. We went back to Amy & Micael's place in Compiegne. The drive was just beautiful--through fields of flowers. The sun was lovely, and the weather wasn't even all that cold!

We got cleaned up and ate lunch. Micael made a spinach and onion quiche with homemade crust. Yum! We also had a salad with feta cheese and vinaigrette dressing. Man, I love feta cheese.

After lunch, we headed off to do a little sightseeing.





We passed by the City Hall which was lovely.









Then we went to check out the church where Joan of Arc prayed just before she died. It was also lovely.







After the church, we headed to Pierrefonds Castle. This was BEAUTIFUL Josh and I took a trip through the castle. There weren't any furnishings, but there were a lot of neat artsy metalwork pieces. The castle has been completely redone with the exception of a very small section. It's absolutely beautiful, as is the surrounding countryside.






Approaching the castle









Ahhh, isn't it just like in a movie?










Actually, this is also the set for the TV show Merlin.











hedgehog wallpaper. LOVE it.









I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favorite pictures from this trip to the castle.











and this is my absolute favorite. again, i'm not sure why. i just like it.












We got some ice cream and went down to the Pierrefonds railway station. This is actually closed and has been turned into some apartments.









We played around the outside on the lawn while we waited for dinner time to roll around.












My personal fave photo of the day. Amy and I reenacted our own Parisian version of American Gothic.










I tried to get Josh to pose like this, but he refused. Micael complied with my request.






For dinner, we ate crepes. Josh's had an egg and some sausage, I think.









Mine had goat's cheese and tomato on it. yummy. You can also see Micael's and Amy's.


















For dessert, Amy and I had butter and sugar
crepes.







As we were leaving, there was a rainbow that appeared over the palace! I don't know how well it photographed, but this was the best I could do.













We swung by Napoleon's palace on the way home. It has a matching section on the other side, but I couldn't get it all in the photo, and I haven't mastered panoramic stuff yet...






We went to bed early so that we could get an early start on sightseeing in Paris the next day.