Mon jour en Paris

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Since I arrived in Paris early in the morning, not many things were open. The first place I visited was the Notre Dame Cathedral, which opened before anything else in France. I took a short walk to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is a beautiful park. I walked to the Parc Du Champs de Mars, which is another park with some awesome sights, the most notable being the Eiffel Tower. Of course I had to go up the Eiffel Tower while I was there. I decided to take the steps instead of the elevator since it would be a good exercise (not to mention much cheaper and would save me at least 30 minutes of waiting in line). It was 328 steps to the first floor, and I was exhausted. I walked around to take in the sights, and then I realized there was another set of stairs going to a higher level. I knew that I couldn’t ignore them, so I continued climbing until I got to the 700th step and entered the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Anything above that required going in elevator, and I knew that I didn’t have time to wait in the line. Thankfully, they provide another elevator free of charge that you can use to go down the Eiffel Tower.

I next went to the Arc de Triomphe, but again I took the shorter and cheaper route by avoiding going inside the arch. I followed the Avenue des Champs-Elysees through some pretty interesting sights until I reached the Musee Du Louvre. This is famous for its glass pyramid, its many sculptures, the Mona Lisa, and the French Crown Jewels (which I didn’t find as impressive as the English or Scottish).

The day was getting late, so I returned to the Eiffel Tower in hopes of seeing it lit up before I left. Unfortunately, the light lasted longer than I had expected because France is a time zone ahead of England. I hadn’t realized this until our coach driver warned us upon entering France, and I was extremely thankful that he did because otherwise I might have missed my coach back. I still had to hurry from the Eiffel Tower back to the station without getting to see it all lit up. Oh well, it had been an amazing trip regardless.

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