Soooo it's taken me a long time to update about Paris. It's not that I didn't love it, because i adored every second of it, I just knew that it would take me so long i dreaded writing about it.
Butttt, here I go!! So Carnival lasted until Tuesday night and we were supposed to leave for the Paris early the next morning. Monday morning there was a horrible train crash in Belgium, which really isn't far from us. It was kinda scary. We were trying to get to Paris as cheaply as possible so this kind of ruined our plans. We were
hectically trying to find a way to Paris through Germany, Luxembourg, whatever we could find. The night before we left there were really no trains even going through Belgium. We woke up early and got to the train station at about 9
o'clock and just hoped for the best. Thank God the trains were working. Our route was
Maastricht to Brussels, Brussels to Lille, and then Lille to Paris. The
train from Lille to Paris was only 3 euro so it was by far the cheapest route. We got to Brussels and all trains to Lille were cancelled. of
courseeee. So the guy in Brussels tells us this, "There is a train to Gent in two minutes. Once you get to Gent take the train on platform __ to Lille and then to Paris." So of course, two minutes means run.. So there we are, five American girls with huge backpacks running through a major international train station. It was hysterical. The train was actually delayed so we ran for nothing but it was fun anyway. :) We got to Lille and then headed to Paris. It took us about six hours but it was all worth it. We were so excited to get to France. We ended up walking around for a while but
that's ok. We went to the wrong hostel, missed our street twice, and then finally got there. We rested for a little while and then headed out to get some dinner and dessert (Jill and i got ice cream, so good). We went to bed pretty early that night because we were all beat. The next morning we woke up and headed out to our free tour. But not before we stopped at a crepe stand and had our first crepes!!
soo very yummy. Mine had
nutella and bananas. So amazing. Then we went on our
NewEurope tour. We love these things. We have now been on three and it is so worth it. It takes up time, you see so much, and you only tip the tour guide. We saw
a lot on our tour. We loved it! We had a tour guide from New Zealand. He took us to
Notre Dame, the Louvre courtyard, lunch at this cute little sandwich shop, and so much more. We went to the artisans bridge or the painter's bridge. All along the bridge there are little locks.
This was probably the most romantic thing in Paris. This is the spot that Big finally tells Carrie that "she's the one" at the end of Sex and the City. Two people will come to this bridge and take a lock and "lock their love" on the bridge and throw the key into the Seine. So sweet! I thought it was cute!!He ended the tour about a fifteen minute walk from the Eiffel Tower.
SO
DUHH!! we went to the tower. It was unreal. It didn't actually seem real to me until we were there. It is the most recognizable landmark in the world apparently. We took so many pictures it was kinda
ridiculous. After that, we went back to the hostel to relax for a little while. We do a lot of walking. :) We decided to go back to
Notre Dame and look inside and take some more pictures.
Well we did that, but ended up getting to go to an evening service. Of course, everything was in French and it was all song and we had no idea what was going on but it was amazing. Just to know that we actually went to
Notre Dame and sat through a church service is unreal. It was absolutely gorgeous and I will never forget it. By this time, we are starving. We are in the Latin quarter which is by the university, so everything is cheaper than the rest of Paris. Notice i said cheaper and not cheap. Nothing is cheap in Paris. Seriously, unless you want to eat a crepe for every meal, bring money. So we had dinner at this cute little restaurant. Three courses. I had French onion soup, spaghetti
bolognese, and an apple tart. Usually dessert is always my favorite but this time it was the soup. It was delicious! We drank some wine and laughed and it was a great girls dinner. After that, we went back to the hotel to prepare for our next day. We foolishly made the mistake of planning Versailles and the Louvre in one day. We woke up and took a train to Versailles. We decided to try and get in because residents and citizens of the EU under 26 get in for free.
Sooo we decided that since we are students residing in the EU we should get this privilege. The first guard let us in with just our student ids. After that, we didn't get far. We were hoping for someone who was unfamiliar with the rule maybe? well we got a guard that said if we were on the 3 month program we had to pay but if we were in the 6 month or 1 year program then we could get in for free. We had to show him our passports or our visas. O dear. So we had to get in line for the tickets and pay 15 euro to see Versailles. But it was completely worth it. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but I was blown away. It was absolutely gorgeous. Gold everywhere, beautiful paintings, huge beds, one of a kind chandeliers and everything. I adored this place. We took a quick stroll through the gardens and headed back to town. It was getting later and we were all starving. We ended up going to the sandwich shop we were in the day before, before heading back to the Louvre. Let me first say, The Louvre is basically my dream.
I love going to museums, I love art, and since the Louvre is the biggest museum in the world, how could it not be on my things to do before i die list? Unfortunately, we only had about 2 and half hours in the Louvre. That may seem like
a lot but when you have thousands of years of history in art work, its not a lot of time. So we all went our separate ways to do our own thing. Of course, the first stop is the Mona Lisa. It was packed of course, and it had its own wall which was funny but i loved it. So many people say they are disappointed but i still loved her. She has a mystery and I was hooked. But there was so much to see! Being a painting girl myself, I decided to see all of them... and I did! Italian paintings were my favorite. So big, so famous, so great. Then French paintings, no impressionism which i was sad about, but they were still amazing. Then i went to the rest of the European paintings. Cam and I are doing a project for Dutch Art History on Rubens so I found the Rubens room and saw some of his paintings. Then I stopped by the sculpture places on my way out. I think it was a very successful short Louvre trip. I can't wait to go back and I will be back one of these days!! So then, we decided to hang out for a bit before going back to the hotel. We decided to go to the Arc
de Triomphe because it has a beautiful view at night. After a scary walk up the stairs, we immediately knew it was worth it. It was so amazing. I took so many pictures and they all look like postcards. It was so fun! After the Arc, we were hungry. We wanted to go out to a nice dinner but decided not to. We ended up going to McDonald's instead. Totally worth it. We went back to the hotel and passed out after a super long day. The next morning we decided to split up. Cam and Deck wanted to go see Napoleon's grave, Jill Ellen and I wanted to go see
Moulin Rouge. We got crepes again and went to the
Moulin Rouge to take a picture. :) Then Ellen went shopping and Jill and I went to go see if we could see Napoleon's tomb as well. First we went by the opera house. It is supposedly where the Phantom of the Opera legend comes from. Well of course
I'm going to go! i love love Phantom. That is where the first picture is taken. on the steps of the opera house! Then headed to the tomb. We ran into Cam and Deck while looking for his grave. You had to pay to go see him so we decided not to. We had lunch (savory crepes, probably one of my favorite things so far!) and headed to the train station after a wonderful few days in Paris. Turns out we should have booked before hand so we had to pay to get a first class ticket to Lille.
oo well. Jill Ellen and I made it back home that night while Cam and Deck had to stay the night in Brussels. Luckily we had planned an extra day just in case that happened. Paris was wonderful and it was definitely my favorite city so far! I would love to go back even this trip. Who knows, maybe I'll get to
Disney Land Paris. o gosh i wanna go!
Soooo it's taken me a long time to update about Paris. It's not that I didn't love it, because i adored every second of it, I just knew that it would take me so long i dreaded writing about it. Butttt, here I go!! So Carnival lasted until Tuesday night and we were supposed to leave for the Paris early the next morning. Monday morning there was a horrible train crash in Belgium, which really isn't far from us. It was kinda scary. We were trying to get to Paris as cheaply as possible so this kind of ruined our plans. We were hectically trying to find a way to Paris through Germany, Luxembourg, whatever we could find. The night before we left there were really no trains even going through Belgium. We woke up early and got to the train station at about 9 o'clock and just hoped for the best. Thank God the trains were working. Our route was Maastricht to Brussels, Brussels to Lille, and then Lille to Paris. The train from Lille to Paris was only 3 euro so it was by far the cheapest route. We got to Brussels and all trains to Lille were cancelled. of courseeee. So the guy in Brussels tells us this, "There is a train to Gent in two minutes. Once you get to Gent take the train on platform __ to Lille and then to Paris." So of course, two minutes means run.. So there we are, five American girls with huge backpacks running through a major international train station. It was hysterical. The train was actually delayed so we ran for nothing but it was fun anyway. :) We got to Lille and then headed to Paris. It took us about six hours but it was all worth it. We were so excited to get to France. We ended up walking around for a while but that's ok. We went to the wrong hostel, missed our street twice, and then finally got there. We rested for a little while and then headed out to get some dinner and dessert (Jill and i got ice cream, so good). We went to bed pretty early that night because we were all beat. The next morning we woke up and headed out to our free tour. But not before we stopped at a crepe stand and had our first crepes!! soo very yummy. Mine had nutella and bananas. So amazing. Then we went on our NewEurope tour. We love these things. We have now been on three and it is so worth it. It takes up time, you see so much, and you only tip the tour guide. We saw a lot on our tour. We loved it! We had a tour guide from New Zealand. He took us to Notre Dame, the Louvre courtyard, lunch at this cute little sandwich shop, and so much more. We went to the artisans bridge or the painter's bridge. All along the bridge there are little locks. 
I love the first pic but had no idea where or what it was! how exciting!! I also loved the Louvre - you could spend days in there and still leave feeling like you didn't have enough time!
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