I AM IN LOVE WITH PARIS! I'm going to start learning French asap so I can go back and vacation during the summer. So let me start from the beginning, just warning you now that this is going to be a very long entry. Amanda, Cam, and I woke up at 3:45am Friday morning to get picked up by a car to drive us to Heathrow airport so we could make our 6:40 plane to Paris. We were pumped and could hardly sleep all night and got to the airport at the perfect time to enjoy starbucks and review a few french terms that we printed offline and never used. The plane ride was super short (an hour and five mins) and we enjoyed a croissant and reading the plane magazine on the way. When we came into customs we were all awkwardly asked out by the two police officers checking our passports, they gave us their numbers and told us to meet them at Saint Michael. Our day began with riding the RER to our hotel. The hotel was pretty good for what we paid, but some would say it was a legit hostel. As soon as we put our bags in the room we ran off to the Louvre. It was a BEAUTIFUL day out sooo sunny and so unexpected. At the Louvre we saw the Mona Lisa and Napoleons Apartments (he has the tiniest bed). We got a little lost but had fun taking silly pics with the statues and running away from an old french man who would come behind us and grunt. WEIRD. After the Louvre we walked through the Jardin de Luxemburg which on a sunny day was breathtaking! The ponds, the palace, the kids, the cafes, and the sights were just amazing. At this point in the day we were starving and had time to kill before our tour so we found a place with delicious nutella and banana crepes with cafe au lait. After our meal we went to our tour destination, but there was trouble with my ticket so Amanda ripped the people a new one because I wasn't going to be able to go up the Eiffel Tower with them. We dealt with the sweetest asian woman who started crying because she was so sad she could not help us. Anyways we hopped on the bus and began our tour at the Eiffel Tower. It was incredible! Amanda and Cam ended up going up and I spent my time taking tons of pictures/videos, browsing in the gift shop, and running away from the guys trying to sell me key chains. While roaming under the tower I came across my french friend who really really wanted to draw my caricature and he only wanted me to pay him 5 euro. As we sat and had a nice chat it was time to go and he gave me my drawing which was me in a belly shirt with a D cup in front of the tower haha! After the tower we made our way onto our boat cruise which was freezing but we saw EVERYTHING and even got to make a wish under the lover's bridge. After the boat tour we got to go in a van with Olivie. It was super fun because Amanda and i were in the front seat and he thought we were the funniest thing. He showed us all the sights (Champs Elysee, Arc Triumph, the Tower, Concord, Louvre, President's House, Notre Dame, St Germain, and so much more...) and the history behind them which was really interesting. We ended the night getting dinner which was also amazing...we found this cute little restaurant where amanda and i split a burger and cam got a steak haha. After our first day we were exhausted and fell asleep right away
Saturday was also a jam packed day. We first started off in the Latin Quarter where I had the most delicious breakfast I have ever eaten in my life. I had the Croque Madame (ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top but the cheese was unbelievable). After that we visited the Notre Dame which has the prettiest stained glass I have ever seen. We didn't go to the top because the line was too long. We then continued to shop in the tourist shops near Notre Dame and St. Germain. After the Notre Dame we went to the Museum De Orsay where we saw lots of Van Gogh, Monet, and Pissaro paintings which were beautiful. We found Cam in one of the pictures it was hilarious! After the museum we got coffee and prepped for our dinner reservations at LE PETIT ZINC. We got there around 7 and had a TWO HOUR DINING EXPERIENCE! It was sooo nice (eggplant caviar, quiche fromage with a mesclun salad, steak with pepper sauce, and chocolate cake) Afterwards we went to the Pub of St. Germain where we split a bottle of French wine and had a three hour girl's night conversation. As we sat there for hours we saw a tap dancer and a birthday celebration. The day was full of laughs, delicious food, and art.
Sunday was our last day in Paris =( but also busy busy! We started our day off in Monmarte (the Sacre Couer) It was kind of cloudy but the view was amazing. There were soooo many steps and we met some nice London bloaks who really wanted to speak Spanish to me. We had the best time enjoying the music and roaming the streets shopping and admiring all the fresh foods and carousels. At the church we met the funniest street performer who wanted to hold Cam's hand and we met the scariest jamaican guys on the way down the steps. One of the guys grabbed my wrist and I just giggled and then he giggled and said "Hey chiki chiki sexy sexy woman with the bom boms hakuna matata" We all died. After the church we walked through the red light district which was pretty interesting and saw the Moulin Rouge. I was not expecting it to be so commercial/small. After that we went back to the Latin Quarter and had some Hagen Daaz for lunch =) so good. We walked the streets singing/ with accents, picked up our bags at the hotel, and said aurevoir to Paris! The train ride home was interesting we got lost once but got back on track...it was a good thing we had about 3 hrs before our flight. We met other students from Barcelona who had 20 minutes to get to their flight because they got lost. Unfortunate but we had a fun time in the airport and finally made it home around 10 london time. I cannot wait to go back at the end of the trip and re visit all the places and spend more time there.. Paris is definitely high up on the top five places I've ever traveled and I cannot wait to go back! =)
