Scotland and Liverpool and The Queen!!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give you a quick update on the last week since I've left Florence. I had fun in Scotland and in Liverpool. It was nice to stay with Amy and for her to show me around and know where all the cheap places to eat were. Both were more relaxed trips which was nice after all the traveling I've been doing. I really enjoyed Liverpool and it was great to see Becky (she was our Aupair when I was 5 and I haven't seen her in 15 years)! It was nice to catch up. Her house was beautiful and Jacob (her son who's about to turn 8 in 2 weeks) was really cute. He brought his friends over to the house yesterday because they had never seen an American girl! lol. On Wednesday we got in and Becky picked Churchill and I up from the train station. On the way back to her house she showed us a couple of sites like the football stadium where a lot of fans were killed years ago and there's an eternal flame. We went to her house and had dinner and then walked around her neighborhood. We got a true English ice cream cone when the ice cream truck came by. It was really good! On Thursday Churchill and I went into town while Becky was at work and Jacob was at school. We left a little later than planned but it worked out well because we got to see the Queen of England!!! It was really cool; people hope to see her their whole life and never get a chance and we got to! She was opening an exhibit or something and she walked out to her car and waved. There was a children's choir that sung a song about Liverpool. Some of them were deaf so they signed it as they sang. There was also a Lady that turned 100 years old that got to give the Queen flowers. We were just in the right place at the right time. The people Becky works with were all jealous because they've never even seen her. A couple people even fainted; it was a little hot though. We got some lunch on Albert Dock and went to the Beatles Story museum which was really cool. It had had things that showed how they became the Beatles to the present. It was a lot larger than I expected. We had a girls night out and went out to dinner and then walked along Mathew's Street where The Cavern Club used to be. There's a replica in it's place. We went to the Cavern Pub across the street which is like similar to what it would have been and had a live band and Brian Adams guitar along with other bands' memorabilia. Churchill left Friday morning and since I've been sick the last few days I just rested at Becky's and got ready for Paris. I felt a lot better after resting for the day. She made a traditional English meal for dinner! Lamb and vegetables and potato wedges. This morning I had to catch a 6 am flight to Paris. The flight got overbooked some how and there was one person without a seat. They offered 250 Euros to switch to a later flight. There were no volunteers but they eventually worked something out. We ended up leaving an hour late. We got in about 9:40 and I didn't get to the hostel till 12! It was pretty easy, I just had to take a train to town and then get on the subway which I was familiar with from the last visit. It just took a long time to get my bag, figure out the best way to get to the hostel and to get tickets. It's nice to know that I can do travel by myself but I much prefer a travel buddy. It's just nice to have someone to talk to. Well it's off to bed for me....it's been a long day. I'll try to write soon!