by Ritika Adhikari
During the summer of 2022, I went to London and Paris for two weeks with people from my school. My time in Europe was delightful as I saw the places I had learned about in my history class in real life. One of my favorite places was the Versailles Palaces and if I were to go back to Paris, I would make sure I would visit the Palace.
The Versailles Palace was humongous with many different rooms all filled with extraordinary artwork, architecture, and even furniture. It was a thrilling experience to know that I was walking the same floors Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV had walked through. I especially enjoyed walking through Marie Antoinette’s room and how big and decorated it was. It had even included a whole self-portrait of the Queen which filled an entire side of the room. The artwork was phenomenal and everywhere you looked there were sculptures and paintings on the ceilings. Some of the paintings and sculptures I had even recognized when I had to learn them for my class. Versailles wasn’t the only place we went to, and on my eight day vacation in London and Paris we had actually managed to see many different tourist attractions, try different types of food, and overall have a great time learning about the culture.
The first place we stopped was London and one culture shock was hearing everyone speak in a British accent even though I’ve heard people speak in British accents. This was different because I was actually in London and so many people were speaking in a British accent because that’s how they actually spoke. Since we only had three days in London everyday we were walking constantly and it seemed like we never had a chance to rest which was fine to be because we were in London. We were able to see the Big Ben, National Gallery where I was also able to buy some prints, and went to Piccadilly Circus.
However my top two favorite things we were able to do was going to Borough Market and going on a Jack the Ripper guide, both which were when we were in London.
First, the Borough Market was somewhat like a hidden gem, in the big city of London there was a small area, the Borough Market is somewhat like a farmers market where indv. venders were selling their food. There was A LOT of different variety and options to choose from. I had chocolate strawberries and gelato which was really tasty. If I ever had the opportunity to go back to London I would definitely choose to stop by the Borough Market.
In addition, I also enjoyed the Jack the Ripper tour I went on which consisted of us going around the places where Jack the Ripper’s victims were picked up from. It was really interesting and I had learned a lot since previously I had little to no information about Jack the Ripper.
After our quick four days in London we made our way to Paris with a train. In Paris I enjoyed walking around in the streets and admiring the architecture. All the building especially the older ones were beautiful and one of my favorites parts were to admire the building when walking in Paris.
In Paris we had to obviously see the famous Eiffel tower which was really and even more amazing at night because we were able to see it light up. One of the things that was upsetting was the fact that Notre Dame was in the process of being rebuilt from the fire and we weren’t able to go inside, however we were able to admire it from nearby.
Also from previously starting my favorite thing in Paris and from the overall trip in general was going to Versaii however going to Louvre would be a close second . Now whenever I listen to Louvre by Lorde it feels so real knowing I have actually been to the Louvre which is HUGE.
We weren’t able to see everything since it’s just way too big but we did see the Mona Lisa which honestly I think is overhyped and there’s tons of better artwork at the Louvre than the Mona Lisa. Even though it was . two years ago I still think about my trip and hope that one day I will be able to go back.
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