As previously posted in
part 1 of
My first European trip (September 2010),
I shared some
photos and
my wonderful experience from my recent holiday and visit to the
beautiful countryside of
England (
Derbyshire,
Yorkshire, and
Lincolnshire) and the lovely
Scotland,
UK.
Here's
part 2 and a continuation of
my first European trip experience. In this second part, we were back to England and were off to
London for a few days and two nights stay.
Then, we spent a day (and night) in
Paris, France and then back to
London, England and back to
Bakewell, Derbyshire for the remainder of my vacation.
Sept. 16th - After our brief, overnight stay in
Lincoln, the next day...later in the morning, we left
Lincolnshire for
London. On our way there, we passed by
Stamford and
Burghley House (unfortunately, we didn't get to stop by there and see the stunningly beautiful house, as seen famously as
Lady Catherine's estate in Rosings in
P&P movie, due to lack of time or day...we didn't even expect to spend the night at Lincoln, so passing by Stamford was pretty nice even though we didn't get to go there and see
Burghley House)...We arrived in London early in the afternoon just in time to check in our hotel for a two night stay...
In our
first day in
London, we went to see these famous
London attractions: Big Ben (in the
clock tower, where we heard the
bell chimes 6x by
6 pm and music played at exactly 6 pm),
The London Eye view, the
Houses of Parliament, and the
Westminster Abbey. Also, we went to the busy
Piccadilly Circus (which looks similar to
NYC's
Times Square, which I had visited years ago) where we saw the
Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum just across the plaza where we took a break and sat by the
memorial fountain with
Eros statue on it, took some pics, and shopped for souvenirs by the
Cool Brittania store nearby.
London Attractions
1) Big Ben (clock tower) with 2) London Eye
3)
Houses of Parliament 4) A
river in front of the
House of Parliament5)
Westminster Abbey sign
6)
Front view of
Westminster Abbey (
The Collegiate Church of St. Peter at
Westminster)
Piccadilly Circus: 1) Adverts sign 2) Cool Brittania store
3) A silver mime (a street mime dressed in silver paint)
4) Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum
Sept. 17th - On our second day in London...we went sightseeing and saw some famous tourist attractions such as the
Buckingham Palace (home of
Queen Elizabeth II. We missed
the Changing Guard as we arrived there by noon...but we got to see a lil' parade of knights in their horses though and
marching guards, which my niece called, "the marchers," lol) and took lots of pics including The
Victoria Memorial, the
golden statue of Queen Victoria which sits in front of the Palace facing down
The Mall.
The Buckingham Palace
After the
Buckingham Palace, we went to see the
Victoria & Albert Museum (there was
Style Icon: Grace Kelly exhibition, but it was at night and we didn't get to go see it, unfortunately). Next, we went inside
The Natural History Museum. On our way to the famous
Harrods shopping store (we had a nice tea time after our lil' shopping that afternoon...), we saw some store displays for
London Fashion week (for Monday, the following week). Then, we went to see
The Tower of London and the last place we went to see for this day was
St. Paul's Cathedral. After that, it was night time and we head back to our hotel to sleep early for an early morning check in to
St. Pancreas railway station for a
Eurostar train ride to
Paris, France...
Victoria & Albert Museum
The Natural History Museum
1) London Fashion Week store display 2) Made In Dagenham bus poster
The famous Harrods department store in London
(with a
memorial shrine of the late
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed,
late son of Harrods owner
Mohamed Al Fayed)
Tower of London
St. Paul's Cathedral and
Queen Anne's
statueSept. 18th - We departed
London,
England very early in the morning (5:30 am, actually had to walk to an empty London streets to the train station nearby for our 6:30 am check in...) for an over 2 hours train ride to
Paris,
France...arrived in
Paris Nord (
Gare du Nord or "North Station") train station by around 9 am (Paris time, it's an hour ahead than London)...
Paris, France
Notre Dame Cathedral (La cathedrale Notre-Dame)
and The Louvre Museum 
(
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur), a Roman Catholic church in Paris View of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica from the Eiffel Tower.
Sept. 19th - The next day and morning, after our wonderful day in beautiful Paris, we checked out from our hotel and rode the city bus to Gare du Nord station and took the Eurostar train (where we were moving backwards, lol) back to London. We arrived late in the afternoon (and stayed a bit) in London. By night time, we left London and drove back to Bakewell, Derbyshire for the rest of our holiday.
Sept. 20th - On this day, during the morning, we strolled around the town of
Bakewell (where the
bridge and River Wye was just a short walking distance to where were were staying at as well as
Rutland square and
Rutland Arms Hotel,
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop,
The Peacock Pub, the town
market, and
Bakewell parish church to name a some).
1) A bridge over River Wye (Bakewell) 2) Bakewell Parish Church
1) After the rain, we saw a rainbow appeared 2) an unusual fog during the morning
Rutland Square and Rutland Arms Hotel
Of the 35 individually styled bedrooms, it is believed that Jane Austen stayed in room number two whilst visiting Chatsworth and revising the final chapters of her novel Pride and Prejudice.
Also, according to my brother-in-law's parents when he was a young boy, their family stayed in that same hotel for a night and at the same room (#2) where
Jane Austen was believed to have stayed in when she was visiting
Bakewell,
Derbyshire. See first pic above where the
2nd window on top of the hotel and its name "
Rutland" is below it.
1) Bakewell Gift & Bear Shop 2) The Peacock Pub
A random
house in
BakewellLater in the afternoon, we went to
Denby shop to shop for some plates and tea cup sets, and spent the night at a friends' house for dinner...
Sept. 21st - In our last full day in
Bakewell,
Derbyshire, we drove to
Matlock Bath to shop (and eat lunch) at
Masson Mills (Shopping Village), went to see the
Museum (inside Masson Mills), and toured
Haddon Hall (one of
P&P movie's filming locations). There was one more place we've wanted to go, the
Stanage Edge, Hathersage Moor, Hathersage, Derbyshire (in which
Keira Knightley's
Lizzie Bennet was seen famously standing on
precipice getting some fresh air at the Peak District scene in
P&P movie) but unfortunately, wasn't able to go due to lack of time or day.
A museum inside Masson Mills
Haddon Hall (exterior)
Haddon Hall (interior)
The Banqueting Hall as
the inn at
Lambton in
P&P movieand the
other room was where
Lizzie was distress to read
Jane's letter over the news that their youngest sister
Lydia eloped to
Wickham.
Also, the
dining hall was used as
Elizabeth's bedroom.
Visit Pride & Prejudice Country for more
P&P filming locations! Besides
Pride & Prejudice (2005), other movies (I've seen them too) that were filmed at
Haddon Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire, England, UK...
The Princess Bride (Cary Elwes and Robyn Wright)
Jane Eyre (all tv and film versions including the new one with Mia Wasikowska,
Judi Dench, and
Tamzin Merchant)
The Other Boleyn Girl (Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Scarlett Johanssen)
Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett)
Lady Jane (Helena Bonham Carter, Cary Elwes)
Sept. 22nd - Our last day in
Bakewell, Derbyshire (
England and
Europe)...I woke up early morning for our early check in at
Manchester airport. I was sad to leave Derbyshire, the beautiful countryside (I missed it already!)
UK/Europe, but with all good things that must somehow come to an end, it's time to go home. As much as loved and enjoyed my trip (and It was a much needed lil' escape, getaway, or change of scenery for me for a change, as sometimes it's good to be away from my usual and typical activities, lol...and just enjoy, refresh, relax, and have some fun. I'm glad I did as I definitely I had a fantastic time), I did miss home sweet home and my own bed (and family and friends), but I definitely had an unforgettable and memorable experience visiting Europe for the first time and it was all worth it!
After our
fun-tastic two weeks vacation in
Europe, it was time to go home. We drove (and I looked around outside the car window and lingered to see
Bakewell, Derbyshire one last time as we were driving by and exiting the beautiful countryside...we also passed by the
Peak District, which was still dark and foggy much like in the scene in the
P&P movie when
Lizzie was in the carriage in tears, hastily leaving Derbyshire and back to her home in
Longbourne after reading
Jane's [bad news] letter that youngest wayward sister
Lydia eloped to the wicked
Wickham. It sure was dark and very misty early that morning...it also reminded me of when
Darcy was walking through the misty morning scene, lol...) to
Manchester airport, returned our rented car, departed Manchester and flew back to the
U.S. of
A!
The End.
That's all,
my dear readers!
Thank YOU all for reading both parts of
my first European trip experience. I appreciate it and hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing all the photos here as much as I enjoyed posting and sharing them with you all.
:-) 
Here it is (again), the link to where you can listen to Matthew reading P&P novel. You can also download the podcast episode (for free) as well on iTunes (if you have one...if not, be sure to download iTunes to download and listen to MM!). I have downloaded this and transferred it to my iPod ever since I heard of this and have been listening to MM's Darcysexylicious voice everyday, lol. It's been fun listening to him read the P&P passage just before I go to bed like I'm listening to a bedtime story and his voice's just so beautiful and soothing to listen to. I even read along with my P&P novel (Chapter 34, pages 184-189) as I was listening to Matthew read. 
