Paris

---

Hello Everyone,

I know it’s been a while since my last update but I have a lot of new travel news to tell you about. Mom came to Lugano last Wednesday to visit and to go to Paris with me this past weekend. We had an amazing time! The weather wasn’t the greatest in Paris but we stuck it out and enjoyed as much as we could with the unpredictable weather.

Starting with Moms first day in Lugano we went to Milan and saw the Duomo there and walked around and just looked at all the different shops. They were obviously way out of our price range but we enjoyed a soda together and people watched for a little bit until heading back to Lugano to eat dinner here at the Montarina (the place I stay).

On Thursday I had class in the morning and then we went to a town about 20 minutes away to visit a chocolate factory, which was small but neat. We had lots of free samples of all the chocolate and got some souvenirs to bring home to the states - so be prepared to try lots of chocolate when I get home!! After the chocolate factory we came back to Lugano and walked around the town and down by the lake.

Friday we left on the night train to Paris. What an experience that was (for mom-not me since I had already experienced it). We slept in a small compartment with 6 beds, and after about 8 hours on the train we arrived in Paris. We took the metro to our hotel (which was beautiful and the people were so nice) and unpacked a little and then headed out to find out “hop on hop off” tour bus that was going to show us around the city. We had a little trouble finding where the bus picked up but after we got on everything from then on went well. We had to sit up on the top of the bus since it was too hard to see the city from down below. It was frigidly cold outside so mom and I had to bundle up and we put an umbrella over our legs to block the rain and the wind. The bus took us around to a ton of places that we would never have had enough time to see if we walked/used the metro. We saw the Opera house, the Louvre, the Notre-Dame, the Orsay, the Concorde, the Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Invalides, the Eiffel Tower and so much more!! At around 4pm we decided to hop off the bus at the Louvre so we could go inside the museum. Before going in we tried to go to get warm by going to the Louvre Café to grab a hot chocolate, but we sat there for about 20 minutes without being served and then two French women sat down next to us and 2 servers ran up quickly to serve them. So we decided we didn’t want to be snubbed anymore, so we got up and left. We decided to just go into the museum and grab a snack inside the Louvre. After going to the museum café we decided to go to the “Dennon” section of the museum where they have the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Sphinx. The museum was AMAZING and I couldn’t believe they let us just walk right up to the Mona Lisa, stand 5 feet from it and take pictures. It seemed very surreal to me that I was standing in front of a piece of history that was so famous and beautiful because I never imagined I would ever see it in my lifetime. We both really enjoyed the Louvre and after a long day of traveling we headed back to our hotel to call it an early night.

On Saturday, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower early in the morning. When we got there it was rainy and dark, but right when we decided to leave and head to see more of the city, the sun came out and started shinning bright, so we decided to stay around and took more pictures. After the Eiffel Tower we headed over to walk down the Champs-Elysees and to go into all the shops. We went into a couple of shops- one which included the Louie Vuitton where we realized that $20 for a purse seems reasonable now that we saw purses and clutches for over $1000. I couldn’t believe we actually saw customers who were buying merchandise from this place- it seemed way too overpriced. After walking the shops we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe and took some pictures of ourselves in front of it (in the rain). Then we caught the tour bus from there to the Notre Dame. When we got to the Notre Dame it was closing so they wouldn’t let us go in but mom and I snuck in to snap a couple pictures anyway. So then we decided to grab a crepe and éclair and some hot tea/cocoa at a café that looked right at the Notre Dame. It was a cute little place and had a great view- the crepe and éclair weren’t bad either!!! We walked around the little souvenir shops for a while and then when it got dark we decided to head back out to the street and as we walked past the Notre Dame we noticed a big pile of sticks that looked like a bon fire and a line forming in front of the church. We asked the people what they were in line for and they told us that it was the line for an Easter midnight mass service in the Notre Dame. So we figured it would be neat so we waited in line in the rain to get inside and once we got inside we were told that the service was going to be televised internationally and that it would be 3 hours long. At first there weren’t many people but about half an hour passed and the church went from empty to completely packed with standing room only. They lit candles from the bonfire outside and brought them inside to pass the light from that fire to each of our individual candles. The music was nice but to be honest I don’t remember focusing much on the service because I started to get really sick and fainty and had to sit down. Mom and I decided it would be best for us to leave before I went out cold on the floor of the Notre Dame (although looking back now, that would have made it a very interesting experience- not everyone can say they passed out in the Notre Dame, but luckily I didn’t have to find out). We left that night from the church and headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

On Sunday I started to feel a little bit better so when we woke up we went to Montmarte and the Sacre Coeur church. When we arrived we had a pretty humourous experience with the public toilets. Who knew that the porter-potties actually self cleaned themselves?? Knowing some of our luck this past weekend we were lucky we didn’t get caught inside while the toilets sprayed themselves and everything inside down before the next person used it. After the public restroom experience we went and took the cable car up to the top of the hill to the church where we waited in a short line to get in to see the church. The church was absolutely beautiful and the altar was decorated in all whites and purples and greens for Easter. It was beautiful to see the church and the view from the top was amazing considering you can see all of Paris from up there. After heading back down to the bottom of town we found a cute little café where mom and I had pizza and salad and sat by the window and admired the view over nice conversation. We decided to head back to the hotel to re-layer and rest before heading back out to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Once we got to the Eiffel we only had to wait in line for about 45 minutes but it was sleeting/snowing so it was kind of cold but mom and I had dressed appropriately so we weren’t cold until the end coming back down the tower. We took the elevator up to the 2nd floor and the views were beautiful at night. Being able to see the lights of the city was very neat. I couldn’t believe I was standing with mom on THE TOP OF THE EIFFEL TOWER. These are things I only dreamed about as a little kid. I never thought I would really be in Paris having the time of my life and experiencing it all with my mom.

Monday came way too early, and we both were sad to realize the trip had already come to an end. It felt like the last 4 days had flown by, but we had seen so many amazing things, spent lots of great times together and made memories that will last forever. As we left Paris I was sad to see it go but I am so glad I had the opportunity to go and spend that time with my mom- I would love to go back someday, but if I don’t at least I can say I have been and seen it all! Well at least most of it!! As for our train ride home- we had a few moments of frustration due to the delays (we got stuck on the tracks for a 2 hours and had to end up switching trains) but we met one of the nicest women in all of France on that train. So all in all, we had our ups in downs with the weather and our luck on the trip but in the end, we met a lot of great people, saw a lot of great things, and had an AMAZING time in Paris!!!!!

---