London & Paris with the Parents :)

     Last Sunday I flew to London to spend a few days there with my parents. It was so exciting to see them and my brother (with his school group) at Heathrow since I hadn't seen them in almost two months. We said goodbye to Marcus, who was taking a coach bus into the city with his group, and we took a cab into London where we checked into our hotel and had a little nap before going to Mass at Westminster Cathedral. We went to the same Mass as Marcus' school group and we could tell how jet-lagged everyone was. People were literally falling asleep (my brother included). Afterwards my parents and I had dinner at Pizza Express then made our way back to our hotel for an early night.

     We had a bit of a late start the next day, but we managed to have breakfast at the hotel before it ended and went back to Westminster Cathedral to go up the bell tower. It was SO cold and windy, and although the view was amazing I couldn't bear being up there for more than about ten minutes. That day we also checked out the National Gallery which was pretty enjoyable even though I'm not a huge fan of art galleries or museums. In the evening we went to to an Italian restaurant called Bella Italia for dinner (where my brother's school group also happened to be having dinner... I felt like we were stalking them. Awkward.) then saw Les Mis, which was fantastic. I had wanted to see it onstage for ages so that was really exciting for me.

     On Tuesday we did some more sightseeing, including going up on the London Eye and seeing Big Ben Tower and Westminster Abbey. We also went to King's Cross to see Platform 9 3/4 -- a must for any Harry Potter nerd in London. I really wanted to do the Harry Potter studio tours but it would have taken a full day and we just didn't have time. On the bright side, I have an excuse to go back to London! That evening we managed to get discounted tickets for Phantom of the Opera, my favourite musical. Even though that was my third time seeing it onstage I was still really excited -- Phantom never gets old for me. We had insanely good seats too, which was a nice bonus!

     We didn't do too much on Wednesday since we had an early evening flight to Glasgow, but we did do a bit of shopping on Oxford Street. When we got into Glasgow my parents went to their hotel to check in and rest for a bit before going out for dinner all together at the Counting House. This time I had a highland burger (which had haggis in it). Not sure how I felt about it haha. It made me flash back to Burns Night, when Kirsty, Anna and I had way too much haggis. Afterwards I went to Sainsbury's with my parents and they bought me groceries, then I went back to my flat for the night. On Thursday I spent some more time with my parents and just wandered the city a bit. We did a bit of shopping on Buchanan Street then they took my flatmates and I out for dinner at a Greek restaurant which was really fun. The next day my parents did a half-day trip to Loch Lomond while I had class then we met up in the evening. I showed them my flat and took them to Glasgow Cathedral and for a walk to the top of the Necropolis. We went for dinner after and I stayed the night with them at their hotel because we had an early flight to Paris the next day.

     We got into Paris in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and explored the city a bit before having an early dinner at the Hippopotamus. Since I've been to Paris several times before, and my parents have too, we didn't do too many super touristy things while we were there which was nice. We did go for Mass at Notre Dame though and went to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't go up (which was a relief since it was so cold and windy, plus it's always super crowded up there). One of the highlights was seeing a concert at the Paris Opera House on Sunday night. It was a brass ensemble performing Wagner & Bruckner pieces and the concert was good, but for me, being the Phantom fan that I am, the exciting part was seeing the inside of the Opera House. It was gorgeous and everything I imagined it to be. Sadly we didn't get to see the underground lake or the Phantom's lair hahaha. We also did some shopping while in Paris, and I managed to get some really good deals on some high-end clothing brands at a designer outlet mall. On Monday I had to say goodbye to my parents which was hard because I know I won't see them for another 2.5 months. It was nice spending so much time with them though, and I have lots to look forward to in the next couple weeks (namely a visit from a certain someone I have been missing terribly!).

     I have tons of school work to do before spring break, but in a way that's a good thing because it will make the time before Cyrus comes go by faster. Only 11 more days until our UK adventure together :)