The one weird thing about the pods was that you were sitting on an angle so it felt really odd taking off as you weren't being pushed directly back but rather to the side. I also felt a little guilty sitting there in my comparatively luxurious surroundings, champagne in hand, while all the passengers in coach had to walk past us. Still, having paid a stupid amount for the tickets I didn't feel that bad about it. As our flight was over 9 hours long there was no way I would have been able to handle sitting in regular seats. I'm pretty sure I would have lost it, caused a disturbance, ended up on a no fly list etc.

The flight was long - really long. I would keep glancing at the map display only to find that we were still somewhere over Canada. At some point between Nunavut and Iceland I fell asleep and woke just as we were coming over Scotland. As we were flying East it was dark when we left but light only a few hours into the flight. Definitely a bizarre experience, it's no wonder people's bodies get all messed up.

Finally we landed, got our luggage, and caught our transportation to our hotel. Our room was small (which we were expecting) but very modern and clean. We were in the Kensington area which is apparently quite a snooty part of town. It turns out we were only about a 5 minute cab ride from Buckingham Palace.

For the first little bit we took cabs to get around as we didn't trust ourselves on the Underground. However by the time we came home we were experts at it and if and when we go back would take it to get around without a second thought.

The first night we met Evelyn and Mike, who are friends of my parents. They had come over for our wedding and the last time I was in England so so long ago I had also stayed at Evelyn's place. They took us to an old fashioned pub for drinks. We both had Bangers & Mash to eat and honestly, it was pretty good. It was great seeing them and they definitely helped us to relax after such a grueling flight. After the pub they took us down to the Thames river and we walked along it and had some more drinks at an outdoor market overlooking the river.

After we said our goodbyes we got back to our room and being thoroughly exhausted, quickly fell asleep.

The next morning we had to catch the Eurostar train which goes along the 'Chunnel' to get to France and Paris. This was our first experience taking the Underground and it was a crazy, hectic experience as we had no idea what we were doing. Eventually we got to St. Pancras station, got our tickets, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach when the person who checked our tickets looked at their watch, shook their head, and told us we had to hurry. After a mad dash with Chris and I running along the platform we found our train and boarded with literally a couple minutes to spare. I was sure we were going to miss it.

Thankfully we had paid for business class and were soon sipping free wobblies as the countryside raced by. As Alpha mentioned on his site, it was weird when you'd go into a tunnel as the pressure difference would cause your ears to pop. Chris and I were constantly fiddling with our ears and laughing at the experience. After what seemed like a fairly short time we were under the English Channel and soon we were in France.

After a great time in Paris we again caught the Eurostar to get back to England. By this time we were comfortable taking the Underground and didn't have any issues getting back to our hotel. Well not quite, we couldn't find our hotel at first as all the damn row housing there made everything look the same. We checked into our room and unwound for a bit before deciding to go out and find a pub to eat at. After a few blocks we found one and went inside. Having read Alpha's website we knew that you had to go to the bar to order food otherwise you'd be sitting there all day. I had a burger and Chris had Fish and Chips with a side of mushy peas. We tried the mushy peas and both thought they were hideous :)

During the rest of the day we squeezed in the two main things we wanted to do in London. I wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum and we both wanted to go on the London Eye. Being a history buff and someone who is fascinated with World War II, particularly from the German side of things, I knew the museum would be a highlight of my trip. Especially as the one in London is one of the world's largest. Sadly however it took us longer to get there than we anticipated and I only had an hour before it closed. So while Chris rested I went into picture taking mode trying to capture everything that was there. I quickly came to realize that I could have spent days in there and still not have seen everything.

There were some amazing full scale (and authentic) displays in the main foyer. A genuine German Jadgpanther tank, V1 and V2 rockets, Focke-Wulf fighter, Heinkel Jet fighter, German '88 gun and much more. On the other floors they had displays on everything from WWI through the Cold War. There was so much there I just didn't have time to see it all. One display in particular moved me. It was the actual Eagle and Swastika that was on top of the Reichstag which the Soviets knocked down before raising the flag in one of the war's most iconic photos. You could even see the bullet holes which had ripped through it.

From there we went to the Eye. By this point Chris was really tired from all the walking we had done and wanted to go back to the hotel but I convinced her she'd regret it if we didn't go. So a short train ride later we bought our tickets, got in and up we went. The Eye is essentially a large wheel with glass 'rooms' which hold about 15 people. It takes about 30 minutes for it to do a complete revolution and the views from it are quite spectacular. You can see all of London from it.

That night we got back to our room, ordered pizza, drank some beers and went to sleep. Oh, I can't forget to mention one thing. Both Chris and I love watching Big Brother, so it was very amusing to find ourselves catching the English version while we were there. One thing is for sure, the people are generally a lot nicer to look at in our version :)

In the morning we checked out, caught a cab to one of the stations where we switched onto the bus (they call them 'Coaches' there) which took us to the port of Dover. I had been to Dover castle when I visited England 20 years ago but it was interesting seeing it from the ship. I never realized (or I had forgotten) that it was perched on top of the 'White Cliffs of Dover'. So it was pretty cool being able to see both at the same time. I also found it amazing that you could see the coast of France (although it was hazy) from there.

Getting onto the ship wasn't to big of a deal. As we had a suite we were able to go into the 'special' line where you didn't have to wait. We blew past the inevitable Carnival photographer who wanted to take our picture, went up to the Lido deck, and straight to the bar to get our first squishy drinks of our trip. After about 30 mins we ran into Alpha & Nancy and traded stories of our experiences so far. After doing the mandatory 'Muster' safety drill the ship departed and we hung out on the balcony as England slowly faded away and as a single seagull flew alongside to escort us.

Pictures can be found here.

We got off the train at Gare du Nord station and were somewhat overwhelmed by all the people and with the announcements and signs all in Francais. We made our way to the information booth and thankfully the lady who worked there spoke English. We told her where our hotel was and she told us what line to get on and that the one station was only a few blocks from where we were staying.

The hotel was in the Latin Quarter which is a maze of winding streets surrounded by tall buildings and full of ethnically diverse Restaurants and Bistros. After we came up from the Metro we wandered through the streets taking in all the sights. Eventually we stopped at a Creperie and asked the girl who worked there for directions. In broken English she pointed in one direction and told us it was next to the Church.

Eventually we found it and checked in. The hotel itself was very old, very nice, and the rooms were - very small. It made our room in London look palatial in comparison. Chris and I laughed at how ridiculously small the room was but we had the attitude of 'who cares, cause we're in Paris'. It turns out the location was great as we loved the Latin Quarter and were only a couple blocks from the Seine river and Notre Dame (which we literally stumbled across on the second day as we were once again lost trying to find our Hotel).

We found a place to eat, sat out on the patio so we could people watch, and just relaxed. Of course I had to try some French wine and picked one which was really yummy. I was going to write down the name of it but sadly I forgot about it. We found it fun trying to communicate with the waitress who didn't speak much English.

Overall we didn't have much of a problem communicating with people. Most spoke English, and I was able to get by with my broken French for those who didn't. That said, for whatever reason a couple times when we were eating somewhere Chris would automatically answer the greeting from the Waiter or Waitress with 'Hola!'. So they would then assume we were Spanish and proceed to yammer on in that language. Then we'd speak in English and they would walk away really confused.

The first night there we saw the first show we had booked - Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse is um, a high class nudie show. We got there early and had to wait before we could go in. Inside it was very nice and very cozy. I wasn't expecting it to be as small as it was. But for obvious reasons being close to the stage had it's benefits. We had our own complimentary bottle of Champagne and while I'm not sure what label it was Chris and I liked it and it got us buzzed pretty quickly. The show itself was, um, entertaining and the women were drop dead gorgeous.

After the show we grabbed a cab back to the Latin Quarter and being hungry went to grab a bite, but by this time it was almost 2am and most places were closed. The only spot we could find open was one that served Donairs and Gyros so we ate there. They definitely serve them differently there. Instead of using knives they use some kind of gadget that looks like it came from a hardware store to shave off the meat and instead of wrapping it in a pita with one end closed off they instead serve it in an open pita on top of fries. The meat itself also looked like nothing I'd seen before. We were a bit leery but our hunger overcame our caution and in the end they were actually pretty good.

The next day we got up, ate, and went out to explore the rest of the city. We walked to Notre Dame and took a bunch of pictures. There were long lineups to go inside and we didn't feel like waiting so we had to be content with one shot Chris got of the inside using her zoom lens. The cathedral itself was amazing. There was so much detail everywhere you looked. I especially loved all the gargoyles around the outside. Easily the most beautiful building I've seen.

From there we walked down to the Seine river and hopped on the Batobus which was a river shuttle that made stops at various famous places. We only really wanted to get off at the last stop which was where the Eiffel tower was so we just enjoyed the breeze and snapped a bunch of pictures as we went down the river. I got a kick out of the Paris version of beaches. Essentially there's one long stretch along the one side where they dumped sand over the concrete and put up a bunch of beach chairs and umbrellas. It was definitely a popular spot with the locals. Everything we saw along the way was so beautiful and every bridge we went under was adorned with decorations or statues.

We got off near where the Eiffel tower was. There is a famous plaza which overlooks the tower that I just had to go to - it is where the final scene in the movie '28 Weeks Later' was filmed and is also where the infamous photo of Hitler in front of the tower was taken. It was a long walk and there were many stairs to climb so Chris stayed behind and sat on a park bench while I ran up to take a bunch of pictures. The view from there was absolutely stunning. I had the good camera with the zoom lens so I took a bunch of pictures of the tower. Not only for myself, but I also wanted to get some for Nancy as she never had a chance to see it when her and Alpha were in Paris. Unfortunately, I didn't have a wide angle lens and no matter how far back I went I couldn't get the entire tower in one shot.

After awhile I made my way back to Chris and sat down with her and we ate ice cream while watching all the people. It was at that moment that the surrealness of us just hanging out in Paris with the tower in the background hit us. We then went to the tower itself and I was very impressed with the massive scale of things. Not only just the size but also all the intricate metal work. We had been warned about the long lineups to go up and the warnings proved true. It was ok as we were content to hang out at the base. There were a number of street performers to watch and we both got our caricatures drawn. There was also a noticeable military presence there. I cautiously went up to a bunch of soldiers and asked if I could take their picture to which they politely (but firmly) said no. However I sneakily took one photo anyway.

From there we went back to our usual stomping grounds and hung out at a cafe for what seemed like hours. Just having some beers, enjoying the food and the atmosphere. It was one of those rare moments of complete happiness. We actually thought about not going to our second show, the famous Moulin Rouge, because we were so content to just hang out. Thankfully we did end up going because we would have kicked ourselves if we hadn't (plus I had already paid for the tickets).

The show was good, and unlike Crazy Horse, was more like a Vegas type production. I kept comparing it in my mind to Cirque shows we had seen and while I wouldn't say it was better, it was close. We had read horror stories about how cramped it was but it wasn't that bad. We ended up being seated with a couple from Britain who (I kid you not) were thinking of moving to Calgary. He was a police officer and apparently we've been recruiting overseas to get more officers.

In the morning we checked out and caught the metro back to Gare Du Nord station. Having learnt our lesson previously we gave ourselves plenty of time and there were no mad dashes this time. As our train pulled away we were both a bit sad at having to leave. We easily could have spent several more days there.

Pictures can be found here.

We saw a 'Hop On, Hop Off' bus which toured around the city so we hopped on it. We had headphones and could listen to an automated guide telling us about the various places as we passed by. It was an ok place. As a former Soviet satellite state you got the impression that they were still in the process of trying to reinvent themselves as a modern, progressive country. Tallinn only has 400,000 people in it, and apparently they make up 70% of the population of the entire country. It's one of the least populated countries in Europe. I did find it interesting to see the progression of building styles - from classical, to Soviet, to modern.

After finishing the bus tour we wandered around a bit in the downtown area. We found an interesting place that was a combination Liquor Store, Currency Exchange, and Sex Shop. So we went in to get some Estonian money. We all ended up calling their money 'eeks' as that's what their abbreviation was. We found a place to eat and had a couple beers and then caught the bus back towards the ship. Before we boarded we wandered through a large flea market and bought some knick knacks.

As we pulled away I found a really cool spot at the back of the ship where I could sit pretty much alone and watch the city slowly fade in the distance. I also noticed that we had a huge flock of seagulls flying alongside us. In fact this was something that would end up happening every time we left a port. I'm not entirely sure why that was, but I did notice they seemed to love floating on the hot air currents generated by the ship's engines. I guess for them it was like 'Surf's Up!'