Life is About Experiences – Melia Rokosh

Melia Rokosh
Block B
September 8 2017

Endless Summer Memories

Neaouww…! My ears finally pop as our plane lands in London. The long ten hour flight tired me out and my legs needed room to stretch. I stumbled off the plane gazing into space! I’d heard stories of jet lag, but never really experienced it, the farthest I’d traveled was down to Florida. When we went through customs, we were greeted by a nice British officer, he gave us back our passports and welcomed us to London. The tube ride down to our hotel seemed like an eternity, as we were sitting on the train, I could feel my eyelids closing. I drifted off into a warm cozy sleep, but before I knew it, my dad tapped my shoulder, we made it to our station. When we walked off the train, my mom asked a nice tall lady wearing high heels and a blazer if she knew where we could find our hotel. She kindly told us to turn left, and then keep going straight. After a long 10 minute walk, we stumped across our hotel. We walked into our room and I immediately fell asleep on my bed. Later that night, we decided to eat at “St George’s Pub”, they had the most amazing fish and chips that taste like heaven, and they were so big and melted in your mouth. The next day we walked nearly 20 km, my feet had a sharp and raw feeling, but the day was well worth it! We headed down to Buckingham palace, where we saw the “changing of the guards ceremony”, it was very thrilling to watch all the guards marching perfectly in sync. After that, we walked down to see Big Ben, his chimes were so soothing and snug. I am forever grateful for the opportunity considering only days later they announced that Big Ben would be silent for the next four years. Following Big Ben, we decided to ride the London eye, the view from the top is breath taking. We were so high up, but I didn’t even realize, the air smelled so pure and it was the perfect way to end an unbelievable day. The next day we rode the fast speed train from London to Paris. It was so exhilarating, it went 300 km per hour and even traveled underwater. We had an amazing view of the French countryside, we saw little villages and lots of farm land. I noticed immediately after we got off the train how rude Parisians are. They never tried to help us and were constantly trying to get us lost. Our first night there, we did a hop on hop off tour. It was the highlight of my trip. Along the way we sat up top to enjoy the entire view. The tour started by the Louvre and took us down to champs Élysées, the ‘Arc De Triomphe’, the road where Marie Antoinette and Louis the sixteenth were executed. The incredible tour ended with a magnificent view of the Eiffel tower. We also took a day trip to the palace of Versailles, where we took a tour of the amazing chateau. The gates were made from pure gold and the air looked sparkly, the interior was absolutely stunning, there is beautiful wall decor hand painted by eighteenth century painters lined with gold everywhere. History has always been one of my favourite subjects, so I loved learning all about it. The air smelled antique and plenary, one could sit there all day, and never get bored. We later continued our conversation ended our trip in Barcelona, although it was beautiful, it was also quite sad. 3 days before we arrived there, Barcelona had experienced a tragic terrorist attack. There were sad yet peaceful memorials all down the street of Las Rambla. It felt so warm and soothing, and smelled like a million vanilla scented candles, the air felt gloomy, yet it had a glimpse of hope. Overall, it was a memorable trip, Europe is filled with way more history and significant exhibitions, and I would be delighted to travel there again.