Us Rindlaub siblings are spread all over the world this summer. Caroline is working and living on Martha’s Vineyard with friends (I’m so jealous!) and Andrew is doing a summer language program in Burgos, Spain. As for me, I was in Europe and now I’m back in the States trying to see as many friends and soak up as much America as I can before I head back across the pond.
I finished school on the 18th of June and was lucky enough to have Andrew come stay and travel with me before his program started. We had such a fantastic time together!
Our first stop was just staying put and exploring London. It wasn’t as relaxing as “staying home” sounds – during those few days I moved into a new flat, took the GREs and packed for the States. But we did manage to do some fun things too! One of the highlights of our few days in London included seeing Cymbals Eat Guitars on Andrew’s birthday (hard to believe he’s 17 and on the road now…lookout MA drivers). He even got a shoutout from Matt! Very cool. We also went to see Blood Brothers in the West End, a great musical that I didn’t know much about but really enjoyed. We saw just about every market there is in London…Borough, Spitalfields and Camden Market.
From London we took the Eurostar to Paris where we stayed with our Uncle David. Getting there is very easy, just a two hour train ride, provided that you get to the train station on time, which was challenging for us. I had to go to school and drop off my laptop and keys on the way and Andrew and I agreed to meet at the St. John’s Wood tube station so he didn’t have to trek to school with his bags. I thought we were meeting on the platform, but I guess he thought we were meeting outside the station. I guess he was hidden amongst the throngs of Abbey Road visitors, because I didn’t see him on my way in. I waited for ages on the platform, and even got some questions from concerned Tube staff members who were worried about my lurking. I figured that we must have crossed wires and that he was probably waiting on the platform at the tube stop near my flat, so I took the tube back there. No luck. Well, maybe he went to take out the trash or something and couldn’t get back into the apartment? So I ran (all of this with my bags) back to my flat where I thought I would surely find him. Again, no luck! By this point I was sweaty, frustrated and starting to get really concerned. I had made it very clear to STAY ON THE PLATFORM if I got stuck at school and was a bit late. Finally I got a phone call from a payphone from Andrew wondering where I was. He was OUTSIDE the tube station reading the paper…ahh! I got back on the tube, racking up an insane number of charges on my Oyster card for just 1 hour and about 1 mile of traveling back and forth, and finally found him. We raced to King’s Cross and made it in time, thanks to the ridiculous amount of time I allotted to getting there and through security. Phew! First leg of the trip and I’m already drenched. Luckily we learned not to split up again and the rest of the trip went smoothly.
We had a fantastic time in Paris. We went to the Pompidou, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. We ate falafel and walked around the Marais district. We rented the Velib bikes and took them under the Eiffel Tower. We also took a train (and a replacement bus) out to Chartes for a daytrip. Andrew was a bit reluctant to go, wondering why we had to travel two hours to see another cathedral when Paris was full of them. But it was well worth the trek and one of the highlights of the trip, for me at least. Having studied Chartres in Art History 102, seeing it in real life made me realize, once again, that slides don’t do justice to works of art or architecture.
Here are a few pictures. Visit my facebook page or click this link to see more! (The facebook page has captions)
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well written Claire. Thanks for organizing this whole trip for Andrew! He really seemed to have enjoyed it and learned from it.
Love Dad