Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

Day 1: Tour Eiffel and Seine Cruise

     Alright, here we go! We left the center at 6:15 Wednesday morning and went from the St. Pancras train station heading to Gare du Nord in Pairs. That trip was just fine and I didn't even notice when we went under the water. Paris is one hour later than London, so we didn't arrive until about 11:20. We walked to our hotel,  got checked in, and had about ten minutes to freshen up and stuff before we headed out as a group. Nick (our program director) said that the hotel was rated about a four star by European standards, but by American standards it was about a 2. It was a pretty tiny room, and the hair dryer was a hose coming out of the wall. It made me think of every movie where they end up in a shabby European hotel like in European Vacation or Just Married haha. It was fine though, because at the end of the day all we needed was a bed!

Arc de Triumphe

     We had been given a metro pass the night before, so we used that for the first time in Paris to get to these gardens by the Louvre called the Tuileries. The metro is a lot dirtier than the tube in London, although we didn't notice that til we got back to London. The Tuileries were beautiful--just big and open, and there were so many people out and about. It was also a beautiful day! We hadn't seen the sun for a while, and it was so warm with just a little breeze. It was humid, which I wasn't expecting. After strolling the Tuileries, our professors set us loose in Paris, telling us to walk down Champs Elysees to find something to eat. Champs Elysees is a big, famous street in Paris with lots of clothing stores and places to eat. We strolled down the street and got some euros out at an ATM, then explored a side street til we found this little cafe to eat at. None of us speak French except for Kayley, but fortunately the guy behind the counter spoke English. He was so funny! We were being super touristy and taking pictures of our food, so he came and jumped in our pictures and was teasing us when we said Merci. After eating, we walked down the rest of Champs Elysees to Arc de Triumphe, which was awesome! It was a lot bigger than I thought, and when we went inside and climbed to the top, the view was incredible! I wish I would have known more about the history behind it before we came to Paris. We were supposed to meet up with the group at 8:15 by the river Seine, so after the Arc de Triumphe, we headed on Avenue Kleber to the Eiffel Tour!! The Eiffel Tower was not a let down at all. It was so tall and beautiful! I don't know what makes it so beautiful, because it's just made of iron, but it's amazing! We have a goal to take a jumping picture at every main attraction that we go to, so we took pictures of us jumping in front of the Eiffel Tower. Then we actually went and climbed the stairs all the way to the top! Well, you can only climb to a certain point, then we had to take an elevator the rest of the way. We could see so far from the very top! We could even see the Statue of Liberty (the much smaller one that's on the Seine) :) We went out for dinner after that to a really good pizza place, and then met up with everyone else around then for a cruise on the Seine! It was just about sunset, so it was the perfect scene. Tons of people our age who were just chilling on the side of the river waved to us as we went by. Paris is such a happy, hippy city! And it really is so romantic! Being on the river with all the lights was romantic enough, but right as we were passing the Eiffel Tower on our way back, it started sparkling!

Paris holds the key to your heart

Yeah, sparkling! It was already lit up and looked amazing, and then it started sparkling all over with flashing lights and looked even cooler! I think that's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It was quite the experience! We headed back to our hotel after that and planned the next day out hour by hour. There were some things we were required to do, and some things we wanted to do on our own.

Day 2: Fifteen Hours!

     The hotel gave us breakfast in the morning, which was nice. As soon as we finished breakfast, which was about 8:30, we headed out for the city! The first place we hit up was Notre Dame. It looked exactly how I pictured it,  and all my knowledge came from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. The inside wasn't all that unique, but the outside was cool! We crossed a bridge to the other side of the river, and found a bookstore called Shakespeare and Company, which apparently Hemingway used to go to when he lived in Paris. I loved it because it was just a little house with staircases leading up into little nooks. We went to Saint Chapelle next, which is a church known for its stained glass windows. Each window depicts a scene from the Old Testament, and the windows are huge! It was pretty cool. We then went to La Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette was kept before she was beheaded. We saw the cell she was kept in, and inside they had a black shawl over a mannequin that was supposed to look like her sitting in there. It was so creepy! Pretty interesting, though. We got some lunch at a little stand back by Notre Dame, and got these sandwichs called croque monsieurs. Basically it's a toasted ham sandwich with cheese on the inside, and cheese on the outside. So good! We decided it was like a heart attack waiting to happen though. It probably isn't the best thing for you, but man does it taste good.
     After getting those places crossed off our list, we headed off for Versailles! We took about a 45 minute train ride to get there, but it was worth it. The palace at Versailles was easily the most  impressive palace I've seen yet. It wasn't just the building though, it was the grounds around it! The grounds probably go for a mile or more behind the palace, and there's even a lake/pond back there. It was another beautiful day, so we bought raspberry sherbet and relaxed in the shade for a bit. It felt great! Then, we decided to just check and see how much it would cost to pay to go in a row boat on the lake/pond. Split up between four of us, it only cost about 2.50 euro! We had a little bit of trouble at first getting away from the dock, but then Kayley took over the oars and we went a-rowing away! Kayley is a pro rower, thanks to all her many years of girl's camp :) Rowing in a rowboat at Versailles was one of my favorite things we did in Paris! So, that was great. After that, we went and saw Marie Antoinette's house out back, but we couldn't figure out why anyone would live there when you could live in the Versailles palace.
     The trip to Versailles took about five hours of our day, but it was okay, cause we had planned for it. We had a museum pass as well that got us into all these places for free! Well, kinda. It was all pre-paid with our program money. On our way back we had to buy a ticket, cause we were out of our zone for our metro pass. Some nice guy came and helped us out, because we couldn't figure out how to buy the tickets. We don't read French very well. We went to the Musee d'Orsay that night, which was pretty cool, except we were worn out from walking around all day. Oh, I forgot to mention... this day we celebrated like it was my birthday, because I wanted to have my birthday in Paris! I decided that all I wanted for my birthday was to lie under the Eiffel Tower and watch it light up. After the museum we wanted to go to this bakery that's supposed to be really good, but I knew we wouldn't make it to the tower if we went. We broke off from the group we were with, and just the five of us started booking it to the Eiffel Tower. The tower sparkles for five minutes every hour, so we had one shot to make it by 10 o'clock, because we had to be back at the hotel by 11. It was about a quarter to ten when Amanda and I decided to run. We ran through the streets of Paris for probably a mile before we finally turned a corner and saw the base of the Eiffel Tower! We collapsed on the grass and about thirty seconds later it started sparkling! I was so happy we had made it! We were extremely tired and gross from running, but it was worth it. We lied there for the full five minutes and just watched it. It was definitely the best birthday ever! :)
     We were on our feet for fifteen hours that day, so our feet were killing us once we got back to the hotel, and we were exhausted. I'll blog about the third day tomorrow, because it's going to take me quite a bit of time. My first two days in Paris were probably two of the best days ever! I've got church early tomorrow, and I need to get some sleep. I got called to be in Young Women's, and I loved my first Sunday last week! I'm excited to go tomorrow. Hopefully some of the young women show up this time, cause last week no one came but the presidency!