...and it's DONE....

airfare-check
hotels-check
transportation around Europe- check
tourist attractions-check


that's right folks...we are all done with our booking of tickets and hotels and trains and planes!!!!

now we just have to sit back and wait......

Finally!

We are done booking and paying ( thank goodness!) for all the boring stuff like transportation and lodging.

Now we are on to the fun stuff!

I'm trying to contain myself and spread it out over a few weeks or so, but we'll see how I do! I bought tickets for the London Eye. Awesome, super excited about that. I also bought tickets to the Louvre. Woop! I was headed over to buy the tickets for the Anne Frank house but couldn't because it is a little too far out still I think. Oh well!

Riding My Train

Finished booking our train tickets today. That finishes up all the transportation for our trip.

We are flying into London.

Flying from London to Amsterdam.

Train from Amsterdam to Brussels.

Train from Brussels to Paris.

Train from Paris to London.

Here's a peak at our itineraries:

Your journey

* From AMSTERDAM to BRUSSELS-MIDI on 31/03/2010 with Thalys
Train n° 9326 leaving at 10:16 and arriving at 12:10

2 people with fare Smoove (BX) Comfort 2
Coach n° 018, seat n° 054 , 053 (Non smoking)
**Amsterdam-Brussles, Thalys**

Your journey:
From BRUSSELS-MIDI to PARIS NORD on 01/04/2010 with Thalys
Train n° 9330 leaving at 13:13 and arriving at 14:35
2 passengers with fare Smoove (BX) Comfort 2
Coach 005, seat 054, 053 (Non smoking)
**Brussels-Paris, Thalys**

Outward journey: Paris Nord to London St Pancras
Standard Non flexible 2 x Adults @ US$74.00
Departure:
Sun 4th Apr 2010 - 16:43 Arrival:
Sun 4th Apr 2010 - 17:59 Duration:
02h16m Train no:
9045
**Paris-London, Eurostar**

Notre Dame

Notre Dame de Paris ('Our Lady of Paris' in French), also known as the Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic Cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the "cathedra", or official chair, of the Archbishop of Paris, André Cardinal Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.
Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.
The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.

Significant events

Coronation of Napoleon I on Sunday December 2, 1804, at Notre Dame, in a 1807 painting by Jacques-Louis David1185 — Heraclius of Caesarea calls for the Third Crusade from the still-incomplete cathedral.
1239 — The Crown of Thorns is placed in the cathedral by St. Louis during the construction of Sainte-Chapelle.
1302 — Philip the Fair opens the first States-General.
December 16, 1431 — Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.
1450 — Wolves of Paris trapped and are killed on the steps of the Cathedral.
November 7, 1455 — Isabelle Romée, the mother of Joan of Arc, petitions a papal delegation to overturn her daughter's conviction for heresy.
April 24, 1558 — Mary I of Scotland is married to the Dauphin François (later François II of France), son of Henry II of France.
August 18, 1572 — Henri of Navarre (later Henri IV of France) marries Marguerite de Valois. The marriage takes place not in the cathedral but at the entrance of the church, as Henri IV is Protestant.[3]
September 10, 1573 — The Cathedral was the site of a vow made by Henri de Valois following the interregnum of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that he would both respect traditional liberties and the recently passed religious freedom law.[4]
December 2, 1804 — the coronation ceremony of Napoléon I and his wife Joséphine, with Pope Pius VII officiating.
April 18, 1909 — Joan of Arc is beatified.
May 16, 1920 — Joan of Arc is canonized.
1900 — Louis Vierne is appointed Organist of Notre-Dame de Paris after a heavy competition (with judges including Charles-Marie Widor) against the 500 most talented organ players of the era. On June 2, 1937 he dies at the cathedral organ (as was his life-long wish) as he is nearing the end of his final concert held at Notre Dame.
August 26, 1944 — The Te Deum Mass takes place in the cathedral to celebrate the liberation of Paris. (According to some accounts the Mass was interrupted by sniper fire from both the internal and external galleries.)
November 12, 1970 — The Requiem Mass of General Charles de Gaulle is held.
June 6, 1971 - Philippe Petit surreptitiously strings a wire between the two towers of Notre Dame and tight-rope walks across it. Petit later performed a similar act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
May 31, 1980 — After the Magnificat of this day, Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass on the parvis in front of the cathedral.
January 1996—The Requiem Mass of François Mitterrand is held.
August 10, 2007 — The Requiem Mass of Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, archbishop emeritus of Paris, is held.
The cathedral is renowned for its Lent sermons founded by the famous Dominican Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire in the 1860s. In recent years, however, an increasing number have been given by leading public figures and state-employed academics.

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We will arrive in Paris on April 1, which is a Thursday. April 2, is a Friday and is Good Friday. Every Friday during Lent, the Holy Crown of Thorns that were on Jesus' head when he was crucified are brought out for people to see. They will be brought out for the last time on April 2, Good Friday from 10-5. While, neither of us or OVERLY religious, we do believe, and this would be an AMAZING thing to see. Here's a little info on it:




Veneration of the Crown of Thorns
First Friday of the month and every Friday during Lent at 3 pm, on Good Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.

The Crown of Thorns

The relics of the Passion presented at Notre-Dame de Paris include a piece of the Cross, which had been kept in Rome and delivered by Saint Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, a nail of the Passion and the Holy Crown of Thorns.
Of these relics, the Crown of Thorns is without a doubt the most precious and the most revered. Despite numerous studies and historical and scientific research efforts, its authenticity cannot be certified. It has been the object of more than sixteen centuries of fervent Christian prayer.
Saint John tells that, in the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Roman soldiers mocked Christ and his Sovereignty by placing a thorny crown on his head (John 19:12).

The crown housed in the Paris cathedral is a circle of canes bundled together and held by gold threads. The thorns were attached to this braided circle, which measures 21 centimetres in diameter. The thorns were divided up over the centuries by the Byzantine emperors and the Kings of France. There are seventy, all of the same type, which have been confirmed as the original thorns.
The accounts of 4th century pilgrims to Jerusalem allude to the Crown of Thorns and the instruments of the Passion of Christ. In 409, Saint Paulinus of Nola mentions is as being one of the relics kept in the basilica on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. In 570, Anthony the Martyr found it exhibited for veneration in the Basilica of Zion. Around 575, Cassiodorus, in his Exposition on the 75th Psalm, exclaimed, Jerusalem has the Column, here, there is the Crown of Thorns! In 870, once again in Jerusalem, Bernard the Monk noted it as well.
Between the 7th and the 10th centuries, the relics were moved progressively to the Byzantine emperors’ chapel in Constantinople, mainly to keep them safe from pillaging, like that suffered by the Holy Sepulchre during the Persian invasions. In 1238, Byzantium was governed by Latin Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople. As he was in great financial difficulty, he decided to pawn the relics in a Venetian bank to get credit.

Saint Louis portant la Sainte Couronne à Notre-Dame de Paris le 19 août 1239
Gravure XIXème. Coll. part. © NDP
Saint Louis, the king of France, took over and paid back the Venetians. On 10 August 1239, the king, followed by a brilliant procession, welcomed twenty-nine relics in Villeneuve-l’Archevêque. On 19 August 1239, the procession arrived in Paris; the king took off his royal garments. Wearing only a simple tunic and with bare feet, assisted by his brother, took the Crown of Thorns to Notre-Dame de Paris before placing the relics in the palace chapel. He built a reliquary worthy of housing these relics, Sainte Chapelle.
During the French revolution, the relics were stored in the National Library. After the Concordat in 1801, they were given back to the archbishop of Paris who placed them in the Cathedral treasury on 10 August 1806. They are still housed there today.

Procession des Reliques lors d’une vénération
© Godong
Since then, these relics have been conserved by the canons of the Metropolitan Basilica Chapter, who are in charge of venerations, and guarded by the Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Napoleon I and Napoleon III each offered reliquaries for the crown of thorns. They are on display at Notre-Dame.
These relics are presented to the believers for veneration on the first Friday of each month, every Friday during Lent at 3 pm, and on Good Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.
This practice unifies believers in contemplation of the Mystery of Easter, which is the source of their faith, both as the expression of Christ’s unbounded love for men and his solidarity with their suffering.

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I am quite excited about this. You can go into the towers of Notre Dame and meet and greet the infamous Gargoyles and get an impressive view of the most romantic city in the world. What visit to Notre Dame would be complete without these little dudes???





Come and visit the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cité in Paris, a Gothic masterpiece on the UNESCO World Heritage List that was celebrated by Victor Hugo's novel published in 1831. Discover panoramic views over the historic centre of the French capital.

Visiting the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral

• A famous facade. Its design had considerable influence throughout Europe. Its Gallery of Kings initiated a key motif in cathedral art. After climbing 400 steps, you arrive at the Chimera gallery, then the legendary great bell weighing 13 tonnes, and finally the panoramic terrace. The "Victor Hugo" trail includes the sound of the bells and explanatory notices.

• The cathedral. It houses famous great organs, a collection of paintings, and a treasure house with relics of the Passion of Christ once housed in the neighbouring Sainte Chapelle.

Understanding the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral

• Construction and restoration. It is a quintessential Gothic cathedral, and building started in 1163 and lasted over 170 years. Until the building of Amiens Cathedral in the 13th century, it was the largest religious building in the West. Between 1847 and 1864, Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc restored part of the sculpted decorations, and even recomposed parts basing their work on old documents and works in the Cathedrals of Chartres, Reims and Amiens, the first time such an approach had been adopted.

• A place of national commemoration. The Te Deum mass has been sung here since 1447 to celebrate victory and a major funeral service preceded the burial of kings in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis.


Opening / Closing

Times may vary

Open
every day
1 April to 30 September : 10 am to 6:30 pm
open until late in June, July and August
Saturdays, Sundays : 10 am to 11 pm
1 October to 31 March : 10 am to 5:30 pm
Last admission 45 mins before closing

Closed
on January 1, May 1, November 1, November 11 and December 25

Prices
Adults : 6 €
Concessions (18 to 25) : 5 €
Rate for groups (minimum 20 people) : 6 €
Free for children under 18
Free for people under 26 years old who are citizens of one of the 27 countries of the EU or are non-European permanent residents of France

The Louvre

Musée du Louvre
The Louvre palace (Sully wing)
Shown within Paris
Established	1793
Location	Palais Royal, Musée du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France
Visitor figures	8.3 million (2007)[1] 8.5 million (2008)[2]

 / 48.860The Musée du Louvre, or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the the Louvre — is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, France and is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1672, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture.^[3] In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.^[4] During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.

The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being confiscated church and royal property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon when the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After his defeat at Waterloo, many works seized by Napoleon's armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic, except during the two World Wars. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

Info via Wikipedia

Diamond in the Rough

I managed to finally sit down and work out a rough draft itinerary of the trip today.

There are still changes to be made I'm sure, but this is a pretty good place to start!

3/24:

• leave Boise
• layover in Chicago- explore Chi Town for seven hours
• fly all night

3/25:

• arrive Heathrow approximately 7am
• check into hotel, shower and get ready to check out London!
• Hop On Hop Off Tour
• Big Ben
• Tower of London
• Tower Bridge
• Fabric Nightclub

3/26:

• Harrods
• Trafalgar Square
• Oxford Street
• London Eye
• Ministry of Sound

3/27:

• Buckingham Palace- plus the Changing of the Guard
• Westminster Abbey
• St Pauls Cathedral

3/28:

• leave London, arrive Amsterdam around noon
• check into hotel
• canal cruise
• windmills

3/29:

• Vangogh Museum
• Albert Cuyp Market
• Magna Plaza, Kalvertoren, and other shopping
• the "Squares"

3/30:

• Anne Frank House
• Heineken Experience
• rent bikes

3/31:

• leave Amsterdam, arrive Brussels
• check into hotel
• Grand Place
• Mannekin Pis
• Atomium Square

4/1:

• Mini Europe
• leave Brussels, arrive Paris
• Montmarte
• Hop On Hop Off

4/2:

• Saint Chapelle
• Notre Dame
• Sorbonne
• Latin Quarter
• Pantheon
• Luxembourg Gardens

4/3:

• Eiffel Tower
• Champs Elysees
• Arc de Triomphe
• night bike tour

4/4:

• Louvre
• leave Paris, arrive London

4/5:

• leave London, arrive Boise 10:30 pm
  

Getting our Groove on

While the history in London is going to be fantastic, so are the clubs.

I'm sure it breaks rules in 20 of the worlds most popular religions to go to London and not visit a nightclub......isn't that what London is all about???

We wish we had time to visit more, but the two we have narrowed it down to are:
FABRIC
and
THE MINISTRY OF SOUND

FABRIC
77a Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 3HN

fabric is a nightclub in London, United Kingdom. It was number 2 on DJ Magazine's "Top 100 Clubs" list in 2009. It is located on Charterhouse Street opposite Smithfield meat market on the northern fringe of the City of London.

History
The club was founded by Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie and opened on 29 October 1999
Fabric occupies the renovated space of the Metropolitan Cold Stores. Smithfield Meat Market stands and operates from a site directly opposite and is the last of London’s great markets. The area's construction took place in Victorian times alongside nearby landmarks Holborn Viaduct and Fleet Valley Bridge.

Fabric has three separate rooms (two of which feature stages for live acts) with independent sound systems. A feature of the club is its vibrating floor in Room One: known as a "bodysonic" dancefloor, sections of the floors are attached to 400 bass transducers emitting bass frequencies of the music being played.

Style

The musical genres played there vary. FabricLive is a Friday-night "soundclash", including tempos from hip hop to breakbeat to drum and bass to electro. Fabric's Saturday nights showcase DJ talent and live acts. One noteworthy residence was the legendary DJ John PeelSaturday nights are under the charge of Judy Griffith, a London promoter. The weekly residents are Craig Richards and Terry Francis. Craig Richards is also one of the Directors of Music Programming and along with Judy, selects the lineups for Saturday nights, which have featured first UK appearances by DJs such as Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, and many othersFabric is acknowledged to be at the vangard of electronic dance music and the Saturday lineups are famous for bringing new talent to London's clubbing cognoscenti
Sundays at Fabric are promoted by Wetyourself, a Polysexual event that has been running since February 2009. Cormac Wys is the promoter. The music policy is Underground House and Techno music, with the occasional live PA.

MINISTRY OF SOUND

Ministry of Sound London

Inspired by New York’s Paradise Garage, Ministry of Sound’s London nightclub was the brainchild of DJ Justin Berkmann, who set out to create London’s first club devoted to the US house music scenes of New York, Chicago and Detroit, with a room purely dedicated to sound. He stated: "My concept for Ministry was purely this: 100% sound system first, lights second, design third (in that order); the reverse of everyone else’s idea."[3]

Berkmann partnered with James Palumbo and Humphrey Waterhouse to bring the concept to life and a site, a disused bus garage, was located in Elephant & Castle in Southwark, London. The club opened on 21 September 1991.

With opening sets from US house DJs like Larry Levan, David Morales, C+C Music Factory, Roger Sanchez and Tony Humphries, the UK’s first 24-hour dance license, and a 140dB(A) sound-system designed and installed by Austen Derek, Ministry of Sound London quickly grew in popularity as a clubbing venue, despite the lack of an alcohol license for the first three years and notoriously strict door policies.

Today, the club remains at the forefront of the global dance music scene, with internationally recognised DJs playing mix sets every Friday and Saturday night. Since April 2008[4], Fridays have been hosted by The Gallery, with sets from leading hard house and trance DJs. Saturdays are Ministry of Sound’s long-standing Saturday Sessions with house, electro and techno sets from popular DJs including Sasha, Erick Morillo, Pete Tong and David Guetta. Ministry of Sound London also hosts a range of other parties and events during the week and is available for private hire.[5]

The club comprises five main areas; the Bar, the Baby Box, the VIP and the Loft and the Box, the latter housing the club’s primary sound-system, with a specially-built roof to contain sound and a sprung floor intended to enable clubbers to dance for many hours without tiring, inspired by the dancefloor at the Paradise Garage.