Sorry its taken me a few days to get this up, but now you can finally know about my long weekend in Paris! (I don’t usually like to do a play by play in my blog posts, but I think that will be the best way to convey my story.)
Day One:
Chelsea and I left Sevilla with surprisingly little trouble, same with our arrival into Paris. Chelsea and I were very pleasantly surprised when we successfully figured out Paris’s complicated metro system and arrived quickly at our hostel. On first impression, we were less than impressed with our ‘highly rated’ hostel. Our roommate, Jose, was a large Brazilian man that snored like a fog horn combined with a freight train. He was only there for two nights (thank goodness). That coupled with the extensive amount of mold climbing up our walls was a bit much for us. Anyways, we took it easy this day and just casually explored our surroundings and stumbled upon the end of a mass at the Sacre Coeur.
Chelsea and I on our flight to Paris. This was our first vacation either of us had taken completely 'on our own.'
Day Two:
DISNEYLAND PARIS! :) Although we got a much later start to our day than we had hoped, with some minor complications with the metro, it ended up being a good day. We came prepared and didn’t need to buy any good at Disneyland. The lines were very long for a rainy Thursday, but we fit in some good rides, especially toward the end of the night. After Disney, we had a quick dinner by the metro and went to bed.
Me in front of Disneyland Paris!
Chelsea and I on the Aerosmith Rock N Roll Rollercoaster. We were definitely not prepared! Haha.
Day Three:
Today was the first day of our 'Rick Steve’s Paris Tour' from a guidebook that Chelsea brought with her. We started with the Notre Dame Cathedral and although we didn’t go up into the towers it was still amazing. Then we headed around the Ile St. Louis, another island in the middle of the Seine river. It was cute and had a buch of little shops. From there we headed to the Latin Quarter, which was a bustle of tiny streets filled with shops and restaurants. Chelsea and I bought two huge cheesy hot dogs (they are humongous) from a street vendor and they were delicious! After that, we stopped by the fountain of Saint Michel before heading to the Louvre Museum. Here we met our friends from our program back in Sevilla, Adrienne and Renata. We ran through the Louvre, which is utterly massive and in the 3 hrs we were there we still only saw a small part. We hit up the main exhibits such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi and Winged Victory, just to name a few. After that, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower but it had closed early for the night. So instead we went back to the Latin Quarter for dinner at a small French restaurant that was AMAZING. I had onion soup, beef burgundy and crème brulee. Possibly one of the best meals in my whole life. French food definitely kicks ass. Finally, we went back to the hostel and were able to actually sleep without Jose’s train snoring!
Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the most amazing sites I have seen in my entire life.
The inside of the cathedral. Its just so beautiful.
Chelsea and I across the river by Notre Dame.
Cheesy hot dogs! YUM!
The Fountain of Saint Michel.
The Mona Lisa. The picture is kind of blurry because they don't allow any flash in the Louvre, but honestly the Mona Lisa isn't all that great anyways. It's kind of small and unimpressive. It was still really cool to get to see it though!
The Code of Hammurabi. This is the first ever written code of law. I mean it was kind of messed up, like an eye for an eye and cutting off body parts as punishment and whatnot, but it is still a very impressive piece of history! Definitely my favorite thing that I got to see at the Louvre Museum.
Winged Victory of Samothrace. (Again, sorry for the blurry-ness)
Venus de Milo.
Day Four:
Although I guess we weren’t quite done with Jose yet. Apparently he has missed his flight to Madrid and remembered he had forgotten his cologne in the room, so at about 7am he came back into the room and woke us up to ask if we had seen his cologne. No Jose, we had not seen your cologne… Anyways we woke up again a couple hours later and met up with Adrienne and Renata to head out to the Palace of Versaille. The Palace of Versaille was completely ridiculous with its hugeness and extravagance, but definitely an amazing tour. We toured the Grand Apartments that contained the King’s and Queen’s bedrooms, including Marie Antoinette’s bedroom. We went through the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versaille was signed which ended WWI. Also, we saw the many additions of statues and paintings that Napolean made during his time as Emperor. It was too windy and wet to make the forty minute walk out to the smaller palace or spend much time in the gardens, but since the tour was free, we didn’t mind cutting those parts out. We went back to the Latin Quarter for a quick Greek lunch and then I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life: a freshly made Nutella crepe from a street vendor. O…m…g. Mouth orgasm… Well, after a bit of shopping we walked over to the Orsay Museum. We only arrived there an hour before close in order to get in free, so we had to rush a bit but I got to see some of the greatest works by VanGogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir and many others. Although the Orsay is much smaller than the Louvre and we spent less time in it, I would consider it more personally moving to me. I have never been able to fully appreciate art in that way until I was able to look at the real thing. It was unreal that I was able to stand there and absorb the Starry Night Over the Rhone by Van Gogh and the Water Lily Pong by Monet. After a short rest, we hopped on the metro and tried again for the Eiffel Tower. And to my sheer terror, we did indeed go up… All the way to the top! It wasn’t so bad once I was up there but what you won’t see in any of the pictures is the fact that I was grasping either Renata or Chelsea the entire time. (We like to think it made the experience more romantic.) Although I was scared, I’m very glad I did it. Paris is absolutely beautiful from up there and it looks like the lights of the city go on forever. After coming down, we haggled with street vendors for mementos; I bought a small light up Eiffel Tower for 5 euro. Then a quick pizza and back to our hostel to meet our new roommate. Her name is Molly and she is from Portland, Oregon (although she was born in Minnesota). In order to celebrate turning 40, she had decided to go to Cameroon in West Africa for a month to volunteer at a primate sanctuary. She had only stopped over in Paris for a couple days to do a little sight seeing and let her body adjust to the time change. Although we didn’t exchange information, she was really nice and I’m very glad we got the opportunity to meet her.
Me in front of the Palace of Versaille.
The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versaille.
Just a small part of the gardens outside of the Palace. It doesn't look like it, but it was really cold and windy this day so it was hard to enjoy the view.
This is me at the top of the Eiffel Tower!
The view of the City of Lights from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Day Five:
After our last few busy days, we took it REALLY easy this day. Slept in, grabbed a coffee and muffin from McDonald’s on our way to the metro. In search of the Carnavale Museum, we encountered a large Sunday morning street market, which was fun to walk through. Then we found our way to the Carnavale, which is a free museum about the history of the city of Paris. We were lucky enough to make it on the last day of their Louis Vuitton exhibit! (Although after all the money I spent on this trip I highly doubt I will ever be able to afford one.) Then we walked all the way through Parisian history from the 17th Century to the Revolution and finally the 20th century. Afterward, we strolled through the upscale Marais neighborhood and did a fair amount of people watching. We ate the most amazing ice cream ever and then headed over to the Arc de Triomph. Snapped a few pictures, then headed back to the hostel.
The Arc de Triomph.
Day Six:
Pretty simple. Woke up, had breakfast, hopped a bus to our airport and flew back to Sevilla.
Final Thoughts
- A lot of people told me that Paris is a dirty city, and that’s definitely true, but considering that there are so many people and howold the city is, it actually wasn’t that bad to me.
- I think that the people in Spain are all much nicer and prettier than any of the Parisians.
- Also, I could never see myself living in Paris.
That being said…
- I absolutely loved my vacation in Paris!
- It was an amazing 6 days filled with all sorts of things that I never thought I would ever be able to do.
- Paris was very, very expensive but worth every penny!
- AND even though our hostel started out super crappy, honestly for some reason if I needed to give it a review, I would probably give it like a 4/5. It just provided for a really great experience I guess!
H
No comments:
Post a Comment