Conclusion

  The end of the travel was quiet - we took the ferry boat at Dover at 8:30 PM, and we came back in France about one hour and a half after. We were all very disappointed to leave England. Finally, we reached Dijon at 9:30 AM. Emily went home, but I had still three hours of journey to reach mine.

  To conclude, we would say that it was a great week, full of discovers for both of us because we've never been to London before - it was the first time, but not the last ! This city was as wonderful as we expected. We loved all the areas we visited, from the museums to Oxford Street, including also Westminster Abbey or Covent Garden. For a first travel in the English capital, I think we had a good global view of all its particularities, its culture and its lifestyle. So we finally wanted to thanks our four professors (who will recognize themself) for the organisation of the trip, and for having allowed to us to discover London - thank you !

Our families

   Emily and me weren't accomodated in the same family. Here we propose you a little presentation of both of our two families.

   My family was eventually composed of one only person, named June. She was kind, though she wasn't very talkative with me. In fact, we were three at June's house. Me and the two other girls, named Cloé and Amazone, shared the same room – with only two beds (but one was very big).

   June's house was cool, especially the two bathrooms with open-winged ducks as taps and marble (or false marble) everywhere.

   Our evenings went like this : we arrived at the meeting-place (called Hop Farm) at 7:30 PM, and then our host families came, and drived us to their homes. As we arrived at June's, we went and take a shower, and then we ate in pyjamas. The first day, she gave us pizza and chips, and the other days we had pastas, potatos or... pastas. But it was cool. We had to go to bed at 9:00 PM, but we could stay woken up in our room later, if we did not noise.

   So we spent a great week with June. We were disappointed not to stay longer at her house, and even though she doesn't spoke very much to us, she always answered our questions, and was always very polite and kind with us – so we tried to be as obliging as possible, helping her to clear the table or else.

The Hop Farm, our meeting point.

*~*~*~*

As for me, I was in a wonderful family composed of two girls aged 15 and 18/19 and their parents. There was also a little boy named Billy. They welcomed us in a lovely brick house with a cute garden. They were very nice with us and very talkative. One evening, we spoke with them for three hours. We spoke about differences between France and England about school, movies, food… As one of the teenager had our age, we could compare our way of life and it was very interesting. Moreover, her father was an great amateur of music. He could compose his own songs, play the piano and sing. One evening, we asked him to play something and it was a beautiful and unforgettable moment. He was quite proud to show us his talent. Besides, the mother cooked very well and bought puddings (which means dessert there) especially for us because they aren't used to eating that. 

As for the bedroom, it was a comfortable place and the family had left a visitors' book so we left a thank-you letter. I hope I will be able to have the pleasure to see them once again, because those moments were probably the best of the trip, because they were very enriching.

Picture's source : 

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/21/2160/5H2CD00Z/posters/hughes-david-oast-houses-whitbread-hop-farm-beltring-kent-england-united-kingdom.jpg

Day Five : Tate Modern & its surroundings

The last thing we done in London before coming back in France was the visit of the Tate Modern, on Friday, May 10th. There you're able to see modern art works of famous artists, such as Roy Lichtenstein or Ellen Gallagher. Then, we took a walk along the Thames - we saw the Millenium Bridge, the Globe Theatre or the Tower Bridge, for example. It was a sunny day, so this walk was really nice. Finally, around a half past four PM, we took the bus and said goodbye to London - but we'll come back, one day !

The Tate Modern

Tate Modern's official website : http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Day Five : Museum of Docklands

 This day was the last one and it was a windy day. We went to the museum of Docklands in the morning. We had a work about slavery so we went to the Sugar and Slavery gallery. Indeed, London was the fourth biggest slave trading port in the word. In fact, this museum was a sugar warehouse so it was the perfect place to learn more about slavery at that time. We also went downstairs to see how was this London area in the past. To sum up, it was an original and interesting museum.

Museum of Docklands Official Website : http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Docklands/

Day Four : Oxford Street & Regent Street

I think the most funny thing we have done on this week is the afternoon on Oxford and Regent Street. If you want to spend a good moment and do shopping to the point of exhaustion, it's there you must go ! For us, however, the rain was at the appointment too – that's how I realized that wear a dress wasn't a good idea. First, we went at the Starbucks – an obligated place. We waited here until rain stops, and then we went and do shopping in famous shops, from the cheaper to the more expansive. A little compendium : Primark, Topshop, Forever 21, H&M, and an immeasurable number of souvenirs shop. Then, at the end of the afternoon, we went at Picadilly Circus a second time, which was our meeting place. It was also really tiring !

Oxford Street by night

Oxford Street's official website : http://www.oxfordstreet.co.uk/

Regent Street's official website : http://www.regentstreetonline.com/

Picture's source :
http://www.london-attractions.info/images/attractions/oxford-street.jpg

Day Four : British Museum

For the fourth day, we went to the British museum which is a huge museum opened in 1753 which dedicated to human history and culture. It numbered around eight million works. There, we saw the King’s Library, the Rosette Stone, the Balawat doors, winged bulls with human head, the Lion Hunting of Assurbanipal, the Parthenon frieze, the Payava’s tomb, the Amazones fresco (which was considered as one of the seven wonders of the antique world), a big collection of mummies and Egyptian sarcophagus, the Golden Lapis Lazuli Ram, the Battersea shield and the Lindow man. We appreciated this visit, though we had not enough time to see all in details.

Day Three : Natural History Museum / Victoria & Albert Museum

Then in the afternoon, still the third day, we visited the Natural History Museum, and also the Victoria & Albert Museum (which is situated just opposite). We started by the VAM. There, we wanted to see the David Bowie is... exhibition, but all the tickets were already sold. So we went to the shop, and, going out, we saw that there was an old garnments exhibition. We visited it – it was cool ! I loved all the old dresses, in particular the 20's and 30's ones.

Afterwards, we went to the Natural History Museum. That one was great too, because of all the animals fossils and dinosaurs robots, which gave us the impression to be in front of real ones – the tyrannosaurus was particularly striking. This museum was, at my mind, one of the most interesting of the week. 

 Inside the Natural History Museum

 The Tyrannosaurus robot

 A blue whale reproduction at the real size

David Bowie Is... exhibition's official website : http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

Victoria & Albert Museum's official website : http://www.vam.ac.uk/

Natural History Museum's official website : http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Day Three : Science Museum

On Wednesday, which was a colder day, we visited three museums in the same area. The first one was the Science Museum that we visited during the morning (actually in the early afternoon). We ate inside it on the third floor which was the plane’s floor. We had a work on this museum so we went on the upper floors which were the fourth and the fifth to work on the medicine. We chose the Prehistoric medicine and the Arab World medicine. After that, we went downstairs to continue our work but, that time, on the space race. It was interesting. Finally, we went to the museum shop and my classmate bought a book about space.

Science museum Official Website : http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

Day Two : Tate Britain

After that, we spent a big part of the afternoon at the Tate Gallery, where we were supposed to do a work on Turner. The problem is that we wondered for at least half an hour before finding the good gallery (which was in an other building at the opposite of us). So, when we finally found the good place, we have been able to appreciate Turner's paintings. I liked them because they are very luminous, and because Turner is the precursor of the impressionnists. Then we spent also a little bit of time in the shop, which was really interesting and complete, with lots of books on every artistic subjects.

 Norham Castle, by William Turner

Tate Britain's official website : http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain

Day Two : Through the city

The next day was a sunny day. However, we had nearly three hours of coach so we ate our picnics as soon as we arrived to St James’s Park. But before, the coach driver showed us some areas of the city and among them London Eye. In the park, once again, we had free time so we took a walk in the park, and hopefully, we saw Changing the Guard in front of Buckingham Palace. Then, we walked to Big Ben and the Parliament to take photos and to join Westminster Abbey that we visited. We had a rest in Westminster Garden which is quite a lovely garden.

Day One : National Gallery & Trafalgar Square

After the visit of Covent Garden related above, we went to the National Gallery, famous museum where paintors such as Rembrandt, Monet or Turner are exhibited. It's a very big place, where it's preferable to have a map not to lose yourself. For example, you can see there The Water-Lily Pond by Claude Monet, which is a part of a seventeen-paintings collection on the same theme.

In front of the National Gallery batiment, you can take a walk in Trafalgar Square. This plaza is very great, with its two fountains and the Amiral Nelson's column. There are often street artists such as breakdancers or musicians.

National Gallery's official website : http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Pictures' sources :

http://cdn.londonandpartners.com/asset/6a56c3b33eddc0cb952c9fe4fc32fe72.jpg 

http://lieuxtouristiques.hallwallpaper.fr/images/trafalgar_square/14.jpg

Day One : Picadilly Circus & its surroundings

Hello, this is Amy speaking ! In this article I will talk about Picadilly Circus and its surroundings, where Emily and me went the first day of our London trip.

Monday, May the 6th was a beautiful day, so it's under sunshine we first step in the english capital, after a long travel from France. We began by visting Picadilly Circus, the famous plaza. It not deceived us : in spite of the people, it was great. I had the impression to be in New York or Tokyo because of the big advertizing screens. Then we went and took a walk around it. That's how we saw Chinatown, the Chinese district of London. It's a very typical, cool place. There you can see Chinese restaurants, shops of specialities and ingredients of Chinese medicine. It's also a bit pertubating because all the people speaks in mandarin. So Chinatown is a good evidence of the ethnical mix present in London, which appears to be a cosmopolitan city.

Day One : Covent Garden

After that, we went to Covent Garden, and we had lunch in front of Apple Market (which is a former vegetable market and which is now home to restaurants, cafes, shops…) at Covent Garden Piazza and we saw a street artist’s show. A lot of people looked at his clown show. We have free time there so we did the shopping.

Covent Garden Official Website : http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/

London trip : from Sunday, May 5th to Saturday, May 11th 2013

Hi everyone. We are two sixteen-year-old girls named Amy and Emily.

Here is the set up of our trip in London which lasted 6 days from Sunday to Saturday. We were two classes and we go with four teachers. We left Dijon on Sunday evening at about 10:30 PM and we took the boat in Calais early on Sunday morning to cross the Channel to join Dover. After that, we went to London and we started visiting…

In this blog, we will present you our trip to London, what we have done, what we have preferred, what we have visited… So don’t hesitate to leave comments about whatever you want, your own trip for example or whatsoever. Enjoy and let’s get started !