Finally Finishing February Part II

Well... Blogger has been down for a bit so tonight it seems it's working again and I'm taking advantage of that to get the rest of February back up. I know it's late, but that means that I've been busy, and trust me, that's a really really good thing. Even March is almost halfway over now! How incredible is that? I'm super-jealous of all the snow everyone has had back home, even though they all think I'm crazy for it. But here's the fabulous ending to my fabulous February... it's when Jared came to visit me!!
We started off in London. Jared wanted to visit so we took the Eurostar train over and got to go through the Chunnel. A lot of people have asked how it was. The short answer is "dark". Didn't really notice you were in it to be honest. Not that great. But anyway... this first image is an homage to London's park "wild"life. This was, perhaps, the most normal looking bird we saw for the entire trip. There were also rabid squirrels, pelicans (and yes they WERE too pelicans), geese that moved like something from Jurrasic Park, and pigeons that looked seriously inbred.
Our first, and only, full day in London Jared got to go to his precious used bookstores. He even found a few really great books. AND he got to go to the British Museum. By the end of the day we were physically exhausted and Jared had had way too much excitement for one day.
Here's one of the libraries within the museum. Jared's hoping to have a room like this one day.
Random shot of Jared walking through London. I think he really liked it. And since I've been there before it was nice that we could really just do the things that he wanted to do.
The London Eye in the Background, part of the Stock Exchange on the left, Big Ben in the center, and a bit of Westminster in the front. A very British photo indeed.
The Tower Bridge. We didn't have the time or energy to go all the way out to and across it, but the view was pretty good so it didn't matter. Besides, we had a tour to get to!
This was our tour guide. He's a beefeater... or a Yeoman Warder. It's a very difficult job to get and there are lots of perks. He was actually hilarious and incredibly knowledgeable! If you ever go to London be sure to tour the Tower of London. It was the one thing I hadn't done yet and I can't believe I hadn't. Fantastic!
After the long weekend we made a Wednesday day trip to Bayeux. It's up in Normandy near the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery. We had planned on visiting those along with the Bayeux Tapestry, but the train was almost two hours late so we ended up not having time. It was disappointing, but the tapestry was everything Jared wanted and more. Even for non-history freaks it was pretty cool. Here's Jared outside the museum recreating a scene.
Then we went up the cathedral in town (every town in France has one) and looked around. Jared loved that some of his historical idols actually set foot here. I thought the lighting was neat. But we both enjoyed it, so that's all that matters.
Since we didn't have the time, or money, to get all the way out to the American Cemetery we settled for the Bayeux War Cemetery. It's primarily British, but there are also Australians, Germans, French, etc war casualties buried there. It was moving.
And Jared found a tank outside the war museum. Apparently this one was from the US military.
And I wanted a picture of the sign. It says "Bayeux: Town of Art and History" and then lists the towns it's sistered with around the world. But someone was being a sourpuss and didn't want his picture taken. Tant pis! :)
And finally, on Friday, we went up to Paris. We went to les Invalides, a military museum that still houses active military members. I'd never been here either so it was neat to see.
Les Invalides is most famous as the resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte. Even in death he thought himself to be quite the big man. He is the centerpiece of the entire chapel and the lower ring around the tomb itself is meters upon meters of all his accomplishments etched in stone.
The rest of the museum houses the history of all things military. I'm not exactly a military kinda gal, but some of the armor was amazing. The detail and art and care taken with something you wear into battle was astounding.
And what trip to Paris is complete without a trip to the Eiffel tower?


And we finished off our time together with a great French meal at a little hole-in-the-wall place in Paris' Marais district.
On the metro on the way home we ran into this poster. It's advertising tourism to Cuba. Jared thought it was false advertising as no one in Cuba looks this relaxed and happy and the car is a little too nice and too shiny. But I've got to admit... the sun looks really enticing.
It was a great time together. It was certainly hard to see him go, but time has been passing so quickly it will be July before I know it!