I’m actually having a hard time believing that I just spent a weekend in Paris.. it was that incredible. I was so amazed that I could wake up in London on Friday morning and fall asleep in Paris, France. We, which included Katie P, Katie M, Chelsey, Sam, and me, woke up very early on Friday to get to the Eurostar to go to Paris. It is pretty neat to say that I have traveled through the Chunnel and the trip only took about 2 hours. The first thing that we did was go on a 3 hour coach ride through Paris where we could see the major sights and get our bearings. We stopped midway for lunch and we went to this amazing little crepery. The man did all the cooking and didn’t speak good English, but we communicated well enough to get out first real, French crepes. They were amazing, but way rich. After the coach tour, we went to the Hotel Ibis to drop our things off and revamp before our first walking tour with our tour manager, Gary.
The first walking tour had a theme of the Latin Quarter and the Historic Heart of Medieval Paris. All three walking tours were optional, but we only did the first 2. Gary gave us the Paris Underground Metro 101, which came in handy for the rest of the weekend. Some of the things that we saw on this tour were St. Sulpice Church (where the Rose Line is), St. Severin church (9th century church), and Roman remains of a bath. We walked through the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens (most popular park in Paris)… I would LOVE to take Dad there one day! We walked through the student district, which was in and around the Latin Quarters. It was simply amazing just to walk through the streets because the buildings were all so magnificent. The city is centralized around the river Seine, so we were able to see it and it’s great bridges around sunset towards the end of the tour. The tour actually ended at Notre Dame. I have heard so much about this church throughout my life that I still can’t believe that I was standing right outside it (we went in on the next day). It was so breathtaking. Actually, the entire trip could be summed up with that word. Breathtaking.
After the tour, we went to the Louvre. On Fridays after 5pm, you can get in free if you are under 26. Luckily the museum was open until 10, so that worked out perfectly. Some of the great things that I saw there was the Mona Lisa, Napoleon III’s Apartments, the Crowned Jewels, and the Code of Hammurabi. I actually cried in the Louvre when I found out that the Code was there. Incredible. And yes, I have a picture beside it! After the Louvre, we went back to the Latin Quarters to get dessert and I had crème brulee. ☺ Finally, after an exhausting day, we went back to the hotel.
On Saturday, we woke up and enjoyed a long and wonderful European breakfast… I love how well they eat! We went from breakfast straight to the Eiffel Tower. I never realized how ornate and large it actually was… I don’t think that you could ever take in its magnificence until you are standing right beside it. We climbed the 668 stairs to the 2nd level. I didn’t go to the 3rd, but you could still see everything from the 2nd, so I was happy. It is such a beautiful city… I really understand why it is called the City of Love. After the Eiffel Tower, we went by the Hotel des Invalides, which has a huge gold dome and it houses a war museum and Napoleon’s tomb. Because of the time issue, we didn’t go in. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch and went to eat it in front of Notre Dame. Haha yes, we just sat in front of that glorious cathedral and ate our paninis. The gypsies are really bad in Paris and try to steal and scam you, so that was our only issue there. We went through Notre Dame, which is even more beautiful inside. I can’t wait to show you my pictures.
After we were done, we went to meet for our Walking Tour 2. The theme of this one was the Creative and Historic Hearts of Paris. We began at the famous Moulin Rouge and worked our way through the village of Montemartre. I saw where Van Gogh and his brother worked and lived and even a place that he enjoyed eating at. There are still 2 windmills on the hill overlooking the city, so that was great. Some other things to note were Paris’ only vineyard and Place du Terte (a gathering place for artists). It was really interesting to see the artistic side of Paris, which it is so well known for because I know that it would have been difficult to get to that part of the city if we were doing this trip on our own. The tour ended at Sacre Coeur Church, which is at the top of the highest point in Paris. It was so gorgeous and inside was a massive mosaic of Jesus’ open arms welcoming you into the church. The view from the hill was incredible.
After the tour, we went to go find dinner and decided to go all out. We went to this nice little place across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower and we all got real French Onion Soup…or Onion Soup as they call it in France haha. I must say… for those who have been to Pepper’s in Boone…they definitely rival each other. After dinner, we walked down the river towards the Eiffel Tower to see its show on the hour. On every hour from 7 to 12, the tower glitters for 5 minutes. It is AMAZING! We all got videos of it, so I will have to show you. We continued down and got dessert. This time I had a chocolate and banana crepe. Delicious. We were SO tired by this point that we just had to go back to the room and get a good nights rest.
Sunday started out with another great breakfast. It was raining, but we still ventured on with our plans. We went down to the Tuilleries, just right in front of the Louvre. From there, we walked up Champs Elysees, one of the most well known roads in the world filled with very pricy stores, towards the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was built by Napoleon and was so incredible. If the weather would have been better, we may have climbed it, but because it was so gross we kept going. We stopped at a store on the way to the river to get on our boat tour to get bread, cheese, and chocolate. We went on our amazing boat tour with our authentic French picnic and it was wonderful. By this time, the weather was clearing up and we actually saw blue skies. It was really neat to see the city from the river… such a different perspective. And I got a lot of great shots of Notre Dame. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to wait for the coach to take us back to the train station and then we would leave for London. I was actually excited to go back to London!
Overall, this past weekend was absolutely incredible. I didn’t know any French before going, but as long as you learn some polite words, you can get around fine. It was definitely an adventure. French food will be something that I will crave for the rest of my life and the French people seemed extremely nice and helpful. I definitely can’t wait to go back.
And for today… I went to my school for my 3rd day of observation. It went so well. It was the first day that I really feel good about the school. I am going back on Friday to see it on a different type of school day. Tonight was another play. We went to see Mrs. Affleck, which is a modern adaption of Ibsen’s Little Eyolf. I’m not exactly sure how I felt about the play at this point. It definitely left me feeling pretty sad. But, I’m sorry for the extremely long blog. I hope you enjoyed it!
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