Euro Trip 2005
by Alex and Joyce Oliver
The anticipation was eating at us and we could not sleep. It was finally the night before leaving on our Girl Scout trip to London, Paris and Rome!
Departure Day
We left from Philadelphia on July 1, 2005, and arrived in London the next day at 6:30am. We were met by our guide, Antonio, at the airport and started our adventure!
After we dropped our luggage off at
our very modern “Novotel Hotel”, we went on our first of many tours. We saw the London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Covent Garden.
The one thing I noticed about London was a lot of little parks in the most unexpected places. In Hyde Park, they were setting up for the Live 8 concert. Unfortunately we couldn’t go because you had to be a citizen of the UK, but that night we could hear Sting play from our hotel rooms. That was cool!
The guided tour of Windsor Castle was fun. Legend says that the castle’s round tower was built on the site where the Knights of the Round Table sat.
The day we went to Bath and Stonehenge was awesome! Bath was really quaint with lots of interesting shops and of course the Roman Baths! Stonehenge was in the middle of nowhere and while we were there we had a sort of thunder and lightning storm, which went well with our tour guide’s stories about Stonehenge!
Our free day in London was very busy. First we went to the Tower of London where the Beefeaters brought to life the Tower’s history, which included imprisonment, torture and intrigue- “off with her head”! Our tour guide was very entertaining to say the least.
Lots of shopping, Westminster Abbey, the burial place of numerous famous people, as well as the setting for Princess Diana’s funeral. More shopping, then off to see “Chicago” with Brooke Shields.
7/6/05 On our way to Paris we learned that the terrorists had bombed the tubes and a double decker bus in London. That was scary!
Notre Dame Cathedral was so massive and beautiful with its rose colored glass windows. That evening after dinner we sat at an outdoor cafe and watched the people walk by. People walk with their food a lot there. They never really sit down, always moving.
The Louvre is a huge museum with gorgeous artwork including the Mona Lisa.
The Eiffel Tower at night was so beautiful-it actually sparkles.
The night train to Rome was an interesting experience. We had very tight quarters and a sense of humor was definitely needed. Rome was soooo hot. The Vatican , Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica were beyond words. We even went under the cathedral to pay our respects to Pope John Paul’s final resting place.
Our last day in Rome we went to the Mediterranean Sea. It was nice to relax after running for 12 days!
We will never forget this trip for the rest of our lives. We’ve seen
things that we may never see again thanks to the Girl Scouts of Ocean County. Many thanks to Jenny Cody, Bev Neyenhouse, and Tony from Sound Entertainment for all of your help with our many fundraisers for this trip.
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