A Fantastic Weekend in Paris!!

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Hi everyone!! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!! Paris was amazing!!! I don't even know where to start because we did so much in these last 3 days... just a warning, this is going to be a very long post!! Fabulous weather, sunny and high 80s... my first glimpse of summer since being here! My back even got a little red!! Anyways, here was my awesome weekend....
Let's start with Friday. We left Friday morning and took the train into Paris. We went there through a tour which provided us with transportation, a sightseeing tour, and hotel accommodations... pretty nice, although when we first got there everything was running late and our tour manager was a bit unorganized. There were some interesting people on our tour... some really loud annoying high schoolers... good thing we didn't have to stay with them the whole time!! One of those girls reminded me a little bit (actually a lot) of Napoleon Dynamite and had a particularly low voice... she was up at the front talking to our bus driver and said "well my voice is so low because I'm from New Jersey"... although I think it's questionable if there is even a link there. haha. Anyways, once we arrived in Paris we went for a guided bus tour around seeing many of the famous attractions... the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Institute of France, the list goes on... Once we arrived at our hotel, we put all of our stuff in our rooms... pretty nice hotel, the only thing I wasn't too fond of was the color scheme, so I guess if that's the worse thing then it was pretty good!!! Anyways, while my friend Erika and I changed, my other friends Nicole and Angela went to a brief meeting to learn about the metro (subway)... we agreed to meet there. Well, Erika and I went to the wrong metro station so we were separated for like an hour right after getting there!! We freaked out a little bit because my friend didn't have her cell phone, but we ended up all going back to the hotel and found each other. After that we took the metro down to Sacre Coeur, which is also known as "Church on a Hill". It's actually the highest point in Paris, so it was absolutely gorgeous. I could see everything from the top. There were people everywhere sitting along the hill up to the church ... so beautiful. Once going into the church, my friend Nicole was told to leave because she was wearing a tank top and it was a "huge disrespect". He then told the rest of us to leave, but then came back and said we could go through. That was sort of weird. But anyways, very very beautiful place and church. As we were leaving the church, I ran into one of my sorority sisters who was traveling with her boyfriend... what are the odds of me seeing someone I know randomly in Paris that is populated with 9 million people?!?! So that was pretty cool, but very crazy, too!!!
After the Sacre Coeur we headed to the Eiffel Tower and ate dinner at a cafe along the street. The food was delicious and I actually had a normal salad... very unusual!!! After eating we briefly walked by the Eiffel Tower, bought ourselves a delious banana and nutella crepe (YUM) and then took a beautiful boat cruise along the Seine River. We went after it started to get dark and it was awesome seeing all of the buildings lit up. We went under several bridges, including the "Bridge of Love", which I was hoping to find my future husband at (sorry, no luck...). When we went under it though, a cute Australian guy kissed his girlfriend and it was actually pretty cute. As we continued along the cruise, I was talking to Nicole and all of a sudden she started laughing. At first I thought she was laughing at me and I didn't know why! I turned around and Erika had a little surprise on her sunglasses... a pigeon decided to lay something special for her!! The rest of the weekend we called her "Splat," because that was the noise that Nicole heard when it happened. haha.
Anyways, after the boat cruise we went back over to the Eiffel Tower and sat in the park until the lights started flashing on it. It was so awesome!! I have a few pictures of it, but they really don't even compare to seeing it. We decided to head home afterwards and as we were coming out of the park we saw some people selling brownies on a table... who sells brownies on a table by the Eiffel Tower?? I'm guessing that's not very safe!!! Anyways, wefigured it would only be about a half hour walk to our hotel... more like 2 hours!! We had a quite interesting walk home... we walked along the Champs Elysees and those drivers are MAD!! The Arc de Triomphe is actually in the center of a place where 12 streets merge into it... pretty ridiculous... our tour guide told us that some insurance companies won't even insure people's cars on that road!! Well, Nicole thought she was a big girl and crossed the street where there wasn't a crosswalk...she was about run over!!!! I was yelling "street light! street light!!" which I'm guessing was because I wanted her to wait for the street light, but it was sort of late for that!! Well, she was okay, but quite freaked out. The men in the car started yelling "Je suis de soleil!!! Je suis de soleil!!" (which means "I am very sorry!") and Nicole, freaked out and in the middle of the street is yelling "Je ne parle Francais!!" (I don't speak French!)! The men pulled over and got out of the car to apologize. We ran up behind afraid that they were like a mob or something, but they were actually very nice and just trying to apologize and make sure Nicole was okay.
Anyways, we finally got home, but VERY late...
We got up the next morning early, because it was Bastille Day, which is basically their version of the 4th of July... we got in line an hour early for the Louvre and since it was Bastille Day, it was the only day of the year that the Louvre had free admission. We, being cheap college students, decided we must take advantage of that. The Louvre was awesome. We didn't spend tons of time there, but we were close to the beginning of the line, so when we got in, we practically ran to the Mona Lisa and were able to get to the front and look at it. Some people say that it's sort of disappointing because they expect it to be this big elaborate picture and it's actually quite small, but I was very impressed by it... it was very cool. We saw a few more galleries and I really enjoyed it, but right before leaving, we went through one more room and Nicole was waiting for us to be done. Well, she decided to go to the exit and wait for us and thought we would get out quicker that way. She actually left the building though, and we went to the exit, waiting inside the building for her... well we both were waiting in one place for about 45 minutes and finally found each other, thank God!! After that we decided to make meeting times and places at every place that we went to!!!
Once we left the Louvre, we ate our packed lunches (money saver!!) and then went to St. Chappelle, which is actually where some of the relics of the true crucifix of Christ still lie. I didn't get to see those, but the church was still very beautiful. The stained glass windows were incredible!!!! They date back to the 13th century and were so intricate, each window representing a different book in the Bible. We continued on to Notre Dame which was absolutely fantastic!!!! Erika and I went to the top to see the bell towers and I have never seen anything like it. It was quite a climb to the top! We climbed 422 steps and Erika kept conveniently stopping to look out at the "views"... haha, yeah right. Everyone that got to the top was sweating and breathing quite heavily!!! Oh well, we made it!! It was really cool because it reminded me exactly of the movie "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (imagine that)! Turns out, Quasimodo was actually a real person... the bell ringer of Notre Dame back in the 18th century. I also was able to see some gargoyles at the top, along with a brilliant view of the whole city of Paris.
After Notre Dame, we walked to the Centre Pompidou, which is a really cool building that has lots of modern art. Although we didn't spend a lot of time there, I really enjoyed it a lot. On the outisde of Pompidou there were several shops and restaurants and Nicole went and had caricature drawn for her for €10. We were starving by that time and went to dinner at a cafe where I was very excited to order a croque special... It's a famous french sandwich which has shredded cheese melted on the top, egg, and then inside cheese, ham, and tomato. MMM delicious!!! Tres bien!! (very good!) We then bought some wine and went and sat in the park, anxiously awaiting the fireworks. It was very relaxing... we sat right under the Eiffel Tower and just rested our feet. As we were sitting there, Angela said, "is that Nelly Furtado?" We heard loud music and Erika and I got up to find it. Nelly Furtado was performing a live and free concert in the park!! We went and watched her and I even danced a little... haha. Very nice surprise! As we were leaving the concert and were trying to get through I said "Pardon," which is French for "excuse me"... immediately a man turned around and said "American!!" I can't believe it was that obvious!! They can tell by your accent right away if you are American!!!
Finally the fireworks came and they were probably the best fireworks I've ever seen! They synchronized the fireworks with French Music, including opera, and then some Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Mary Poppins in French! They were AMAZING and right over the river by the Eiffel Tower! The Eiffel Tower was lit up and for a time was flashing with the fireworks! However, after the fireworks was absolutely MAD. Ugh, I feel gross just thinking about it!! Everyone was trying to move in the same direction and we were all in such a small area.... not good. And the French hygeine I have learned is even worse than what I have smelled here in London!!! We finally got to the Metro, and were practically sticking to everyone in the train... soooo disgusting. We got home and felt like we needed a shower just from being on that train!! Anyways, happy Bastille Day!! haha.
Sunday we slept in a bit and then got in line for the Eiffel Tower. We waited for about an hour and a half and finally got on. It was definitely everything I had expected to be!! You could see all of Paris, and the structure of the building was just amazing!! Going up in the lift inside the Tower was soo cool!! I felt bad for Angela though, as she is afraid of heights!! She made it, though!!!
After the Eiffel Tower we had some lunch in the park... quite an interesting lunch if you ask me!!! First, a gypsy came up and asked us for money... we all said we had none and under her breath she was putting a curse on us!!! (which may or may not have been the reason our train ran late that night!!) As we finished our lunch, an older man sat down behind us. Now, I know this is gross... TRUST ME, I know, because I saw it... well, the man was wearing shorts... andd.... zero underwear. And he was not doing anything to be private about it... quite disgusting. I think you can put the rest together. I was not hungry anymore.
After lunch we split up and Erika and I did some souvenir shopping. Soon enough, we had to head home... sad to go back, but at the same time a little bit happy. Although Paris is quite big like London, they are very very different from each other. Paris is a very very beautiful city, very romantic and absolutely breathtaking. At the same time though, I felt like Paris was much more packed together, lots of tourists.... maybe it was because of the weekend we came, and lots of beggars and gypsies, and not as many police... I didn't feel quite as safe as I do in London. I also like how in London everyone just minds their own business. French people seemed much more open than Londoners, which can be both a good and bad thing. And I was so excited to come back to our clean tube here in London!! I can't even tell you how bad the metro smelled! It could have been just because it was so hot this weekend too, though.
Our train ride home ran a bit late, but we still made it home in time to take a tube back home and were home before midnight. Angela was the only one that actually got any shut eye on the way home, Nicole and I were wired and laughing and getting several looks from people who were trying to sleep!!! But trust me, as soon as I got home I fell asleep right away!!!
Anyways, a fabulous weekend away, eventful and fun and beautiful...I LOVED Paris, but also nice to be back from all the craziness! I'm not sure if you read this whole thing, and I don't blame you if you didn't, because it's really long... but I thought I would try to recollect everything right now so that I wouldn't think of random bits and pieces later. Hope everyone else had a good weekend in the states!!
Back at work again today, went well.... the usual day. Another busy week as tomorrow night I get to have a picnic in the park for dinner with my roommate from Iowa, Kara, who is going to Barcelona with me this weekend!! We are going to plan out our weekend... I feel like traveling wise it's been go-go-go and I'm loving it!! Wednesday night I'm going out to dinner and seeing Harry Potter with some of my coworkers, and then on Thursday my boss is being nice enough to let me out a bit early so that I can make my flight to Barcelona that night not so rushed. Spending the weekend there and coming back on Sunday night!

Have a good night everyone!!

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