How to Sum up Europe?

It's difficult to know how to go about the documentation of this epic trip!
The cast of characters are:

ME-off for the summer from that thrilling teaching job of mine
JESSICA - awesome friend (and current roommate) from working at Cali EFY sessions many summers.
JEN- great pal from the glory days. Glory Days = the 2 last magical years of my BYU career living in the Riviera apartments, where I pretty much met the best lifelong crew of college friends.
MELISSA- Jessica's best friend from back home in Sacramento.

Supporting characters, whom you will see in a few photos:

The GARDNER family of Ledbury, England...particularly Katie, Jessica's friend.
Jessica's AUNT VICKIE, Uncle and Cousin from America who are living in Saint Bee's, England right now for work.

So, we had a bit of a rough start on our journey in that our plans ending up changing due to Katie's schedule and after some serious jet lag and lack of sleep, we were informed that instead of 3 days in Paris we'd only be there for 24 hours. That 24 hours would occur after a ferry ride and 5 hour road trip in a tiny European car stuffed with 5 girls and luggage. We did get to stop in Brugge, Belgium for a couple hours though, and I loved it there! The jet lag and nerves and whatever else caused my stomach to whirlwind into a crazy episode that gave me danger of throwing up at any minute a need to live on the toilet all night in our Disney Paris hotel room. Thank goodness we ended up staying there, even though it was 500 bucks for one night. But bless that toilet! It was far better that we were there instead of at Katie's aunts house, where we did spend two nights. It looked like the Weasley's bungalow and we slept in the garage on couches with 2 German Shepards. My worst nightmare? Almost.

After those first few days, things got progressively better. We had a lovely time (still animal allergy filled for me) staying with Katie's parents in an adorable cottage on a farm near the border of Wales. And then we spent a few days in St. Bee's, England in Cumbria area in Northern England with Jessica's Aunt and Uncle and it was beautiful! We got to travel to Edinburough, Scotland and stay in a huge great flat for 3 nights and that was probably my favorite! We ended our trip in London for 4 days in a functional dorm room like hotel room :-) Here's some pictures!

This is Brugge, Belgium...I absolutely loved this place! We stopped here for a couple hours on our way down to Paris. Adorable, friendly town with waffles to die for of course! (Left to Right: Me, Jessica, Melissa, Katie, Jen)

The famous Eiffel Tower! We really did just run around this city...I'll have to go back someday. I did get to experience Disneyland Paris for a couple hours though and it was neat to see the differences!

Windsor Castle, a couple hours outside of London, was big and beautiful and we had a great fun day!

The first sight we saw when we got off the train in St. Bee's, England! An absolutely breathtaking area! I highly recommend Northern England and the Lake District. The next couple pictures are from that region.

Muncaster Castle

The Irish Sea off the coast of Western England with Jessica's cousin, Nathan

The Lake District... there are now words to describe how amazing this place was

Edinburough, Scotland!

Some Scottish food. To be more exact, Haggis (the insides and organs of lamb...uh, I had now idea what I was eating!) "Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours." Barf!!!

LONDON! Big Ben and Parliament- view from our ride on the London Eye!

Jen and I definitely went and watched Wicked in the front row! It was actually really fantastic and hilarious with their accents! It was Jen's first time!

London Tower Bride is not falling down :-) Did you know that it is actually not as old as the Brooklyn Bridge? Trivia for you. Well, that was a very quick summary of the fun and also the anguish. Europe is an expensive place man! And there are no drinking fountains, anywhere! People aren't as overweight there at all, which is interesting. The English are pretty snobby and for the most part don't enjoy the Americans on their turf, but the Scottish are way friendly and sweet and have the coolest accents ever! The French are just kinda mean. It was all an eye-opening experience and I loved it! But I also realized how much I appreciate the conveniences and friendliness of America!