PARIS!!!

We made it! Our first interesting task was attempting to get from the airport to central Paris. Eventually we figured out the french signs and were on a train. We made it to Paris and really didn't have too much of a plan. We were starving, and looking for crepes. We didn't find any crepes, but we stumbled upon a boat tour that was about to leave. So we hopped on and took an hour tour up and down La Seine. It was perfect! Such a great way to see the city!

Paris was beautiful and fabulous- better than I ever imagined! After the tour, all we want was food! We decided just to get lunch instead of breakfast since it was about lunchtime. We started walking towards out hotel and found a cute cafe right by the Louve, La Corona (i think). The food was great, especially compared to the food in London! After lunch we made our way to our hotel, which was located one block from the Louve. It was perfect, clean, and (relatively) cheap. After putting out stuff down, we made the most of our time and starting immediately exploring.

We first went to Sainte Chapelle. What a breath-taking sight. The stained glass was amazing! Next we went to Notre Dame, The Pantheon, and Palais du Luxembourg. All so amazing! Notre Dame is HUGE!!! This was the first place that seemed really "touristy". As far as the crowd, especially compared to London, Paris was so refreshing--and empty! We made it back to the hotel after getting stuck in a down pour (and running into the family on TLC's Little People Big World) ha! My feet were in so much pain. The blisters were only getting worse. It was going to be a LONG weekend at this rate.

We all showered and got cleaned up. Next we went to the Louve because Friday nights were free for students from 6-9. We didn't stay too long. My god, you could be there for weeks and still not see everything! We made sure to see the Mona Lisa though! Next we went to dinner and this fabulous cafe that had such yummy bread and pasta and salads. We split a bottle of wine and ate so much, but it was so good! After dinner we went to the Latin Quarter (St. Germain) to go out. We split another bottle of wine and then went to this crazy bar that was recommended to us by Caroline. It was a good time. We were so tired from getting up at 3:30am, that we didn't stay out too late. After all, we had such a busy day ahead of us!

The next day we decided to get breakfast on the go. We stopped at this little bakery and got croissants, pastries, etc. Everything was so yummy! We walked to Musee d'Orsay where we spent a while looking at all the amazing impressionism work (including pre and post impressionism). We then proceeded to walk to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in a line for about an hour and walked up to the second "story", which was really like 700+ steps! We waited in another line for another hour or so to take the elevator to the top. We realized that we didn't have the right ticket to go to the top, so Sara ran to get in another line. Unfortunately they closed the ticket office for an hour! So we decided not to wait another hour plus! We were sad that we didn't make it all the way to the top. The view was wonderful though. You could see so far, and everything

looked so clean and white! Well worth the calf workout!

Next we went to Tour Montparnasse, a skyscraper south of the Eiffel Tower. This view was awesome too! We got lots of pictures of the city with the Eiffel Tower! We grabbed lunch at a sandwich shop near the metro stop. On the way back to our hotel we stoped at the Jardin des Tuileries, got slushies, and took quick naps sitting in lounge chairs by a fountain. The weather was PERFECT: 80 degrees and sunny! We were in heaven!

We went back to the hotel to shower and get cleaned up. We were planning on going to a club right by the Arc de Triumphe, so we decided to go see that, and find somewhere to eat dinner around there. We cam upon this cafe that ended up being the best food and wine! Everything was so good! We proceeded to make friends with some young Parisians, another american, and the waiter. We waited until the cafe closed to go out from there.

The following day, we were going to take it easy and go shopping and walk around Des Champs-Elysees. We tried to get some lunch at this old Hemingway hangout, but they weren't serving food on Sunday. In fact, almost everything was closed on Sunday! So we found this other place to eat.. nothing worth going

back to! We then took the metro to the Concorde stop and we were going to walk from there. We were coming out of the subway and that is when mass chaos began. There were police, army, national guard, etc in the subway screaming (in french) and people everywhere! We had no idea what was going on. At first it was kind of scary. We thought that there was some sort of disaster or demonstration going on.

We got above ground and there were thousands and thousands of people everywhere. Everyone was yelling and cheering at what seemed like a parade. We still couldn't tell because everything was in French, and none of us could speak or read French.

We finally got down to Des Champs-Elysees and realized

what was going on, and how lucky we were! It was the finish of the Tour de France. How exciting! No wonder there were thousands of people every where! We didn't have the best view, and couldn't understand what the announcers were saying, but it was very cool to see. There were so many bikers and they were all going so fast! And the caravans behind the bikers were huge! It was really cool to see.

After the finish, we went to the Grande Arche near La Defense. Very cool to see, especially the contrast between the Arc de Triumphe and how they lined up perfectly! From there we decided to pack a picnic and go to Sacre-Coeur, the church on the hill. We got baguettes, a bottle of wine, cheese, and desserts

to share. We sat on the hill, watched the sunset, took pictures of the city at night, and made our way back to our hotel around 12:00. We packed everything up, scheduled a taxi for 4am, and went to bed for a few hours.

Overall the trip to Paris was amazing. So much better than I anticipated. I knew Paris would be beautiful and old, but I had no idea! If I am ever lucky enough to go again, I will make sure I go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, go to the Pompidou, and make it to Versaille. Other than that, we saw a lot and did a lot! It was a jam-packed weekend but well worth it! We survived not knowing any French, and luckily everyone was so helpful! We didn't have any rude encounters with Parisians :) My computer is still not fixed... It takes forever to get an appointment at the Apple store here! So i just stole some of Carol and Sara's pictures. Enjoy!